Ore No Taichou Daisuki : I Love My Captain
by Uchiha Xairylle
Summary: IchiRuki Just when he thought the midget wasn't the boss of him... THINGS happen. Ore No Taichou Daisuki... I Love My Captain.
1. Defeat For The Noble Captain

**Ore No Taichou Daisuki (I Love My Captain)  
**_By Uchiha Xairylle_

**Introductory Seat : Defeat For The Noble Captain**

* * *

Kenseikan. Dark hair. Captain's Cape. Silk Scarf. All of this in the office of Yamamoto-Genryuusai Shigekuni.

Kuchiki Byakuya.

He had been here so many times before but right now really felt rather different and the Sixth Division Captain felt the material of his captain's cape as he forcefully swallowed a sigh. Yamamoto-soutaichou was sitting behind his giant desk and Sasakibe-fukutaichou had just gone out with two wooden boxes containing marked papers. The sound of the closing washi door was followed by the opening of a drawer that Yamamoto started to look into with his serious old eyes.

"Is this really final?" Byakuya said in his monotonous noble voice.  
"Have you not been paying attention to the meeting earlier, Kuchiki-taichou?"

Another sigh wanted to come out from the clan leader but he told it to stay put in his throat before swallowing quietly while recalling the earlier events in the Captain's meeting.

This was something big.

--

Kenseikan. Dark hair. Captain's Cape. Silk Scarf.

All of this along with a serious noble woodblock face stood in line with the other captains in the middle of the formal meeting held by Commander General Yamamoto.

The Captains' hands were full and three spots were missing from the ranks. A new squad was to be created and it was to be stationed in the human world. Its job was to deal with the frequent appearances of high-level Hollows as of late as well track down and report all possible movements of rebellion outside of Soul Society.

"Is this really necessary?" Komamura's large voice echoed in the Captains' meeting hall made of wood and concrete, "Preventing rebellion and threats… Isn't that what the Stealth Squad is for?"

"We already have our hands full." Soi Fon spoke up, "After Aizen's treachery, the Stealth Forces have been too busy maintaining covert operations for possible threats within Soul Society."

"Why not create the new squad from select members from the Stealth Forces?" Komamura suggested, "We can not risk creating a new squad from inexperienced members."

"As I've _said_…" Soi Fon's thin patience was making itself visible in her voice, "We already _have our hands full_. If you take any of my men, it will take a toll on us and I am afraid it might affect the performance of the squad."

"And the feasibility?" Mayuri rubbed his chin, "Creating a new squad out of inexperienced members and wasting precious manpower, which we are lacking, might be a very awful flaw for us."

"What bright ideas do you have then?" Soi Fon shot back and the scientist flashed his set of white teeth at her as he widened his eyes. The Second Squad Captain glared as Mayuri's eyes moved away from her and his mouth opened to say something.

"I suggest, _Yamamoto-soutaichou_…" Mayuri spoke, turning his attention at the old Commander-General, "…That we create a test squad. One that comprises of a fair amount members that will perform properly for testing without sacrificing our good men."

"We do not need too many people for this test." Mayuri continued as he observed any reaction that would trace across the Commander-General's face, "For a feasibility study, we need only a fair amount of people to move in an average area."

Yamamoto stroked his long beard in contemplation. Mayuri interlaced his fingers. His eyes widened and he opened his mouth to speak again, "I suggest the use of the Shinigami Representative in Karakura Town where the appearances of high level Hollows have been observed to have increased."

There were gasps across the room.

"Just him? A person can not comprise a squad!" Komamura exclaimed.  
"Tell that to the squads-worth of asses he beat up." Zaraki commented, "Meaaaah… Why not make him Captain of this new squad?"

It was obvious that Kenpachi had other intentions and it concerned stealing Ichigo's Captain's position by rule of "one-on-one defeat" as an excuse to fight him.

"That is not ideal." Byakuya commented as he fixed the end of his left sleeve, "As Ichigo has no Shinigami training whatsoever. Although he is experienced in line of combat, I believe he lacks the knowledge with how the Gotei 13 works."

"I agree. That might cause a flaw in the possible future implementation of this squad." Ukitake nodded, "That is why I suggest that Kuchiki Rukia head this feasibility test squad."

Kenseikan. Dark hair. Captain's Cape. Silk Scarf.

Eyes wider than usual.

Kuchiki Byakuya did not want to believe his ears as the other Captains muttered among each other right after Ukitake's follow-up suggestion. Everyone _knew_ how Byakuya uses his influence to keep her out of the dangerous missions, which is why she had remained to be a non-seated squad member for a long time now regardless of her skills. But even while knowing that, his sister's Captain had just went on and suggested that she be put in a rank that was precarious, away from Soul Society and, worse, _experimental_. Was Ukitake picking a fight with or testing his noble influence?

"Pardon…?" Byakuya asked while maintaining his noble posture.  
"He has a point." Shunsui nodded, "The little princess does have moves and the brains and experience to go with it."

_You are missing the whole noble's point!_

"Rukia will be perfect." Ukitake nodded with a proud smile.

_No, she is not._

Byakuya wanted to grunt.

"Rukia is not even a seated officer." Byakuya said. If it sounded desperate, what the hell! He had promised his dead wife to take care of her little sister and here he was being the cause of putting her into a position that might put her in a unstable situation.

"Exactly. Since it has been stated that we can not send out those with high ranks and seats, a highly-skilled non-seated Shinigami like Kuchiki Rukia will do perfectly."

Byakuya was now beginning to hate how Ukitake was using the word "perfect" in his sentences. Aside from that, he also hated how that last statement of his made _perfect_ sense.

"I will vouch for Kuchiki Rukia's capabilities." Ukitake said firmly with a nod, "I believe she can head this new squad."

"Kuchiki Rukia, huh…" Hitsugaya muttered with his arms crossed and sported his usual scowl to look a bit more mature for his height, "I've worked with her before in the living world. I will vouch for her, too."

Byakuya wanted to wake up from this nightmare in progress. Why was Hitsugaya Toushiro butting his white hair into this matter? Mayuri was wearing the "you-filthy-maggots-are-wasting-my-scientific-time" look but rubbed his chin with a bit of interest as he said, "The Kuchiki girl does pass my standards."

"Meh." Zaraki Kenpachi grunted, bored as usual while he scratched his ear, "The girl's a big girl now and it's high time for her to experience some shit outta this place."

Byakuya did not hold a glare back towards Kenpachi who immediately noticed and returned it. Just what did this walking mass-murder know about big girls, raising sisters and getting people out of places for experience for him to talk?

"What?" the homicidal Captain tilted his head, "You wanna go at me for stating the obvious, rosy cheeks?"

He never thought he'd miss the days when Kenpachi blathered on about seeing no point in standing in discussion that did not involve him slashing or killing anything or anyone.

"Will that be a vote for Kuchiki Rukia, Zaraki-taichou?"

Byakuya took a deep quiet breath.

_Say no, you pompous mutton._

"Bah, yeah. Call it whatever you want."

_How dare you…!_

"Well, then…" Yamamoto finally spoke, "The establishment of the feasibility study squad has been made with Kuchiki Rukia as Captain."

Defeat for the noble captain.

But all is not lost.

"Excuse me." Byakuya spoke, adjusting his scarf as all eyes turned towards him in silence, "I request that this squad be an extension of the Sixth Squad."

A hush.

"What?" Yamamoto raised an eyebrow as he spoke in a gruff tone.  
"This new squad being a feasibility study will need supervision. I volunteer to supervise this squad." Byakuya replied, earning a tilted head from Hitsugaya Toushiro who looked like he wanted to shrug.

"Kuchiki-taichou…" Yamamoto told Byakuya, "If anyone would supervise this new squad, I think you will agree that it would be best to let Kuchiki Rukia's superior, Ukitake Jyuushiro-taichou, do this job."

"True." Byakuya nodded with a gesture of his hand as he spoke, "But the Thirteenth Division Captain is sickly and is also busy with the special tasks of his squad. Aside from this, if this new squad becomes the extension of the Sixth Squad, the Kuchiki Clan will shoulder its financial matters."

No one was speaking as the Captains exchanged glances. Yamamoto quietly continued to rub his beard until Shunsui spoke, "I see where you're coming from."

Ukitake contemplated. It was true that Byakuya wanted to protect Rukia but his actions were hindering her growth as a wonderful Shinigami and member of his squad. However, Byakuya had stated facts. Since this was a test squad, an able, interested and dedicated superior was ideal for this. Being sickly was not a good addition to the mix. Also, the financial shouldering from the Kuchiki clan would not hurt.

"Very well." Yamamoto cleared his throat on the matter, "This new squad will report to Kuchiki Byakuya-taichou… _However_, for this feasibility test to work properly, Kuchiki Rukia will have full authority over this new squad and her decisions may _not_ be overridden by any other Captain unless direly necessary."

"Is that clear?"

Byakuya raised his head in elegance.

Good enough.

"Now, let us move on to the detailed duties, limitations, requirements and members for this squad."

- End of Introductory Seat -

* * *

AN: "Ore No Taichou Daisuki" is supposed to mean "I love my captain". If I did something wrong with it or if I made a wrong translation, feel free to tell me and I will change the title and credit you for it. The idea was created as I was walking down from somewhere and remembered often seeing a fan art of Ichigo as captain and Rukia as vice-captain of a squad named the "X-Squad". (I sincerely hope I find the artist so that I could credit him/her.)

As always, I'm hoping to have fun with this fic and I hope you stick around with me as I progress. I'm not sure if this will be as successful as the "Oh My…!" Trilogy so let me warn you that I will NOT be updating in lightning speed like before. I have school now and no computer. All the time in the world is no longer in my hands. Hope you stick around.

Cheerios, cookies and a whole lot of Bankai love!


	2. A Proposal On The Arched Bridge

Kuchiki-taichou

**Ore No Taichou Daisuki (I Love My Captain)**

_By Uchiha Xairylle_

**Seat 1 : A Proposal On The Arched Bridge**

"Renji." Byakuya's voice was curt but hard, "Shut up."

"But, _taichou_!" Renji wailed and his Captain gave him a third glare for the day and the red-haired lieutenant closed his mouth as if being mentally controlled by his Captain probably because he was right.

A fukutaichou being part of the test squad would defeat the purpose of not wasting the abilities of the seated officers such as his self.

--

_The sinusoidal wave will have this amplitude with an angular frequency of…_

Ichigo's mind was focused on the problem on the board as his eyes darted from the wavy graph his teacher was drawing in front of the class to the paper on his desk where he was solving. He was unusually academically active that moment instead of being seen to be glancing at his Shinigami Representative Badge at this time of day. He never really liked Trigonometry nor did he despise it but he knew better than drive away interest in a subject matter, which could very much help his _living world_ future, making him realize that there was so much more to do than disposing of Hollows for the sake of the world and saving damsels in distress for the sake of pride and bonds.

HOLLOW! HOLLOW! HOLLOW!

Speak of the freaking devil.

Ishida's and Chad's eyes gazed towards Ichigo and Orihime gasped as if waiting for any action from the three males. Ichigo looked out the window and saw an afro-haired Shinigami dashing across the roofs.

HOLLOW! HOLLOW! HOLLOW!

The stupid badge had _eyes_. Can't it _see_ that another Shinigami is already at it!?

HOLLOW ! HOLLOW! HOLLOW!

Just how many Hollows were around for this thing to go off like an ambulance!?

"ICHIGO!"

"GAH!" The orange-haired student exclaimed, earning the attention of the class as he saw a petite girl with black hair and in Shinigami clothes landing quickly on the window sill beside him. Her usually wide violet eyes narrowed at him with her short eyebrows furrowing. The midget monster was not pleased and she resorted to doing insane and ridiculous things when she was not happy.

"Ru—!"

"You dare sit when you're needed!" she glared at him. With one movement of her arm, she had grabbed his Shinigami Representative Badge and nailed it on his forehead, pushing his Shinigami form out of his body that fell back from the chair. It knocked down with a loud crash and Ichigo cringed upon seeing his human body in front of him while he sat on his Shinigami form's bottom.

That would hurt when he got back in his body.

"What do you think you're doing!" Ichigo got up to seemingly challenge a firm Rukia, "I'm in the middle of class! At leas—"

"Enough! We're going!" Rukia turned and jumped out of the window. He raised an eyebrow for a while, sensing a change in her character but decided to drop the thought. Ichigo grunted and was about to follow suit but glanced back at the room he was about to run off from.

"K-Kurosaki!" the teacher was now approaching his unconscious body as the class started to murmur.

"Kurosaki! Kurosaki, are you okay? Kurosaki!"

"A-a-a-a-annnoooou!! Sensei!!" Inoue got up and hurriedly ran towards Ichigo's cataleptic body before the teacher could touch it. She picked up his arm, motioning to drag him as she spoke, "I'll take Kurosaki-kun to the clinic!"

"I'll carry him." Chad approached. He picked up Ichigo's body and unceremoniously put it on his shoulder before starting to hurriedly head out the room.

"Arigatou, Sado-kun!" Orihime trotted awkwardly beside Chad. Both of them glanced at Ichigo who was wearing a weird face upon seeing his body being hauled like a bloody carcass.

"Let me accompany you." Ishida stood up, fixing his glasses as he followed in brisk steps. Without waiting for the teacher's response, the three dashed out of the room with Inoue's voice trailing, "We'll be back, senseeeei!"

"ICHIGO!" Rukia bellowed from the ground below, "Hurry up!"

Why was she bossier than usual?

Ichigo dismissed the urge of yelling back at her and in a flash step, he was beside her but she merely stared at him as if to say, "About time, baka."

Booossssyyy…

"Where is it?" Ichigo put his massive sword on his shoulders.

"You _seriously_ need a Spirit Phone." Rukia dashed to the right and Ichigo followed.

"Like I'd want some of your Shinigamimajig." Ichigo commented as they ran about, "Everything from your world is bound to be ludicrous like the Soul Candy for instance…"

Ichigo leapt up after Rukia as they across and between the roofs of the houses lining the streets of Karakura town.

"… Like what the hell would I want to do with a capricious Chappy the Bunny inside my system?"

Normally, she would have lashed at him and explained the importance of Soul Candy and Chappy the Bunny but for some reason, this time was different. Rukia merely spared him a quick glance but even before Ichigo could expect her to talk back, there was a loud roar. They came to a stop atop one roof. A giant Hollow in the form of an ox with five horns landed heavily on a stone arch bridge as it chased after the soul of a fat man screaming desperately for help.

"There it is." Rukia pointed from the roof where they were standing on.  
"Yeah, I see it." Ichigo lifted Zangetsu.

"Let's go."

"Aa."

In a flash step, they were gone. The Hollow chased with quick yet heavy steps on the stone bridge. The water from the river below them moved in ripples being disturbed by reiatsu from the masked creature whose breathing sounded like an angry bull's. The human soul continued to run and while looking back at the monstrosity that was off to eat him, he lost balance and fell forward, rolling towards one side. There was another roar from the predator, smelling the fear of its prey clutching to his self, saying prayers to all gods he knew while cringing too visibly for his sake.

"HEY YOOOOOOOOOOOU!"

A male teenage voice.

The human soul looked up to see a giant cleaver-looking sword being brought down by an orange-haired young man in a black haori and hakama. The Hollow did not need to look back to see the danger and in one movement, it dodged, jumping into the water to conceal itself and escape. A few sparks flew as Ichigo's blade met the stone pavement of the bridge and he landed on one knee before grunting. The human soul curled into a ball, muttering more prayers as he shut his tear-filled eyes. Ichigo could see the surface of the water move and from the corner of his eye, he saw Rukia land on the river bank with her released Zanpakutou.

"Tsugi No Mai!" Rukia announced as she held out her white sword, "Hakuren!"

A wave of ice shot from Shirayuki's blade, freezing everything in its path and creating a wall on the water, blocking the Hollow's path. With no choice left the Hollow swam back the other side and Rukia blocked with another Hakuren. There was a loud roar of aggravation and the ox-like Hollow leapt out of the water to strike towards Rukia in retaliation.

"Now, Ichigo!" Rukia lowered her stance for prepared defense and evasion but it was deemed unnecessary by the next course of events.

"GETSUGA TENSHOU!"

A wave resembling a black moon shot from Zangetsu, slicing the Hollow in two. There was a big roar of pain, death and defeat in the air. One large half of the Hollow fell into the river, disturbing the water in waves and splashes while the other half fell beside Rukia who closed her eyes at the gust from the crash near her. Her hand came up to hold down her hair being blown and she squinted, seeing Ichigo approach her while the fairly thin dust cleared.

"Hey, you, chibi, we have to talk!" Ichigo said and Rukia straightened, eyeing the large piece of Hollow mutton that disintegrated before her eyes, "You can't just pull me out of cla—"

"The Plus." Rukia said, ignoring Ichigo, walking past him and heading back towards the bridge. Ichigo grunted, looking over his shoulder and seeing only her back and no acknowledgement. He scratched his head vigorously as he followed her, wondering why she seemed to be so workaholic that day. She easily went up the bridge and landed on the pavement where the human Plus was sitting. He was cowering and covering his head in desperation while muttering something she could not understand.

"Ne…" Rukia said in a calm voice. At this point, Ichigo stepped beside Rukia and he started towards the wincing plus who had probably not even realized that the Hollow had already been disposed of.

"Hey." Ichigo said.

"GAAAH!" The fat soul yelled, sinking farther from him, "NO! DON'T HURT ME PLEASE!"

"Don't be scared. We'r—"

"WHO WILL NOT BE SCARED OF A SCOWLING FACE WITH ORANGE HAIR LIKE YOURS!" the Plus shrieked while pointing a trembling accusing finger at the orange-haired Shinigami Representative whose forehead wore an angry vein. He's one to talk. Were there no mirrors were he came from or were bodies as large as gasoline trucks were the in-thing? Scowling face with orange hair was definitely better to layers of fat and oil with no bravery in between! Ichigo opened his mouth to yell back when Rukia crouched beside him and patted the Plus on the head.

What the hell?

"Don't worry. We won't hurt you." Rukia said, flashing a gentle smile that, to Ichigo, made her look freaky, "We're going to send you to Soul Society."

"S-s-s-soul… S-s-so… so… society?"

"Yes." Rukia nodded, "It is not a scary place. You can live there peacefully as a soul. It's where all souls go."

There was silence. The fat man lowered his arms. His sobs died down and he wiped his tears across his face. Rukia continued to wear her convincing smile as the innocent-looking soul stared with trusting, sparkly eyes at Rukia and said, "Are you an angel?"

"No, I am a Shinigami." Rukia replied, taking her sword to prepare for konsoh, "And it is my duty to send you to Soul Society."

"All right. But before you do that…"

A mischievous glint flashed across the man's eyes. Ichigo scolwed and in and instant, the fat Plus flailed its arms in an attempt to hug the petite Shinigami that was Rukia.

"LET ME CRY IN YOUR BOSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!"

Wonderful! A perverted Plus!

One konsoh coming up!

"BOSOM THIS, FATSO!!" Ichigo yelled as the end of his sword's handle landed on the man's head. There was a loud crash as the Plus' chin and then its face hit the pavement. Rukia closed her eyes tightly at the impact and she looked at the head that met the ground in front of her. Somehow, she felt sorry for him but he deserved it. A few seconds more, there was a bright light and the perverted Plus soul slowly ascended to Soul Society.

Ichigo was breathing heavily as he remained in this after-hit position. Maybe he should've just let that soul be eaten. If that soul became Shinigami, Ichigo was pretty sure which squad it would belong to and Soul Society did not need any more perverts under Kyouraku Shunsui!

"Ne, Ichigo." Rukia said and Ichigo looked down.

"Hn?" he asked. He was still bent forward and his arm was stretched, holding Zangetsu in position for konsoh. Rukia looked up, her head touching his leg as she looked with her violet orbs at him. Ichigo shivered inwardly and he straightened and jumped back and away from her.

"What!" Ichigo asked, looking at her as she stood up. She stood with her back at him for a while before she turned to face him. Rukia opened her mouth to say something but stopped. Her eyes moved shiftily to one side reflecting a bit of hesitation to which Ichigo responded with a raised eyebrow.

"What?" he asked again and her eyes shifted towards him, "Say it."

"There's something I want to ask you." She began and stepped towards the younger Shinigami.

"For the third time, Rukia… _What_?"

There was another pause from her and she took a deep breath. Wait a minute. Why was he feeling like something was coming and he did not know it? And why was there a blush across her cheeks?

"Ichigo…"

No. Ichigo was sure she wasn't going to ask him out nor profess undying love for him.

His heart was pounding. Hell no.

"I wanted to ask you…"

And she wasn't going to suddenly go homicidal and ask him if it was okay for her to drink his blood, too!

A bead of sweat trickled from his forehead.

He was probably worked out from all the Hollow business the past few days. He should really go back to Trigonometry class.

"If it's okay…"

Okay, calm down. This is Rukia we're talking about. She was more of a man than a woman and she knew better than to ask him out or profess undying love in the middle of an arch bridge after a Hollow encounter. And she was neither vampire nor cannibal to ask for his blood, his liver or any of his vital organs.

She would not dare say something that… drastic.

"… Will you be my fukutaichou?"

See?

"Rukia, of course, I'll be— YOUR _WHAT_?!"

- End of Seat 1 -

AN: First official chapter but technically the second chapter. Well, yes, _of course_ the Captain needs a Vice-Captain!? Gawd. As I've said in my previous AN, the idea is born from a fan art of Ichigo as captain and Rukia as vice-captain and since I've seen a lot of fics where Ichigo was taichou and Rukia as fukutaichou so I go, "Wtf, why not the other way around?" Hence, this.

Gaugh. I'm tired. I haven't had any breakfast or lunch and I'm already doing this. I need an outlet this badly. TT Anyway, read and PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW!

Cheerios, cookies and a whole lot of Bankai love!


	3. In Subordinate

**Ore No Taichou Daisuki**  
_By Uchiha Xairylle_

**Seat 2 : In Subordinate**

* * *

HOLLOW! HOLLOW! HOLLOW!

"You want me to be your _what_!" Ichigo's voice shot as he dashed through the trees. Rukia was doing the same to his left. Actually, far left — _very_ far left… "Five meters away" left.

"Rukia!"

HOLLOW! HOLLOW! HOLLOW!

"Rukia!"

HOLLOW! HOLLOW! HOLLOW!

"Ru—oof!" Ichigo's face met a thin random tree branch with a handful of leaves. In surprise and disorientation, he fell back but managed to land safely on one knee before he suffered any damage as he shook his head. That stupid midget. Ichigo rubbed his face and scratched his nose while spitting off a leaf or two that was between his lips. Ichigo looked up and saw Rukia dashing forward and looking back at him.

HOLLOW! HOLLOW! HOLLOW!

"You're going to get killed with a tree branch, sun bush!" she said and continued.

Sun _what_?

Ichigo had been asking the same question over and over again for the past three Hollow encounters and he got the same response every time — Nothing. Rukia had been exceptionally serious today and had been showcasing more talent than usual and it was perplexing him to the point of paranoia. But what was more disturbing is that he heard — or at least he thought he heard — her ask him…

_"Will you be my fukutaichou?"_

On-going translation. Fukutaichou. Vice-Captain. Lieutenant. Second seat. Next to Captain. Examples include Sasakibe Choujiro, Omaeda Marechiyo, Kira Izuru, Isane Kotetsu, Hinamori Momo, Abarai Renji…

Funky brows …

Ichigo shook his head vigorously. No! Being ranked on the same line as Renji would be an _insult_! And why would Rukia need a Vice-Captain anyway? She can't be captain!

She doesn't have a cape, that's why!

And she's too small!

"Ichigo!" Rukia's loud but distant voice was saying now, "Pick up the pace!"  
"Why you…!" Ichigo growled, half of his mind still being in thought. But it didn't matter. All it took was one shunpo and he was already side-by-side and face-to-face, "Rukia!"

"Wah!" Rukia exclaimed in surprise upon seeing Ichigo's face flash before her like shocking sunlight making her lose much of her focus as well as her footing. She threatened to fall back from the tree branch she had stepped on but Ichigo's large hand landed on her head to help steady her as they came to a stop. Her small hands came up, grabbing onto his arm for support. She was standing on one foot and it took only a few seconds before she regained her balance and stood with two feet on the branch. Rukia gave off a sigh of relief and opened her eyes to look straight into a pair of questioning brown orbs.

"I sure don't want to pick up _that_ pace." He said and she gasped, releasing his arm and motioning to dash away again but he held onto her small head and drew her back. She winced in pain and growled at him as he forced her back saying, "Stay put, you chibi."

"But the Hollow!" Rukia reasoned, motioning to kick off again.  
"My badge is silent. Someone's dealing with it already." Ichigo's free hand held onto her shoulder to prevent her from moving any more.  
"But your Trigonometry class…!" Rukia moved her head to one side so that she could avoid looking at him.

"… Is long over!" Ichigo shot back, forcing her head to face him. Regardless of whatever Rukia would say or do, Ichigo was determined to get answers and get them now. The midget was going nowhere until the orange-haired Shinigami Representative has had his fill of answers! Rukia's gaze moved to her left and Ichigo moved so that she was looking at his face. She gasped and turned her gaze to the other side but Ichigo followed her vision. Her eyebrows met. He glared back.

"Why won't you look at me?" Ichigo frowned. He was expecting a response but got something else. To his irritation, the midget shut her eyes tightly, making his eyes widen in exchange. If she was trying to provoke him, she was doing a very good job.

"RUKIA!" Ichigo hollered but she refused to open her eyes. Fine, two can play this game. If she wanted force, she was getting force. Ichigo was _very_ good when it came to forcing. With this in mind, he growled at her and in no time proceeded to use his fingers to open her eyes by lifting her eyelids. There were a couple of curses from him and her until Rukia yelped both in pain and surprise as she swatted his hand away.

"What are you doing!? Ridding me of eyesight!?" she said, covering her left eye with one hand as she backed from him on the shaking branch.  
"You asked for it!" Ichigo moved forward.

"Is this how you treat someone who wants you for a Vice-Captain!" Rukia stomped angrily. The branch moved shakily, threatening to break but none of them noticed anyway since they were too absorbed in arguing between themselves.

"And is this how you treat someone you want to be your Vice-Ca—Wait a minute, what are you talking about!? You want me to be your _what_!?"

Creak… Creak… Creak!

Since neither of the two was backing down, the tree branch decided to go first. It broke in two, allowing the two Shinigami to free fall. Chance to escape for Rukia? No. Even before she got any ideas of dashing a few futile meters away from him, Ichigo immediately grabbed Rukia by the arm and landed on their knees safely yet strongly on the ground, disturbing the leaves and the dirt.

"Vice-Captain?!" Ichigo frowned at her, gripping her arm tighter as the dirt settled down and without bothering to even get up, "What do you mean _Vice-Captain_!?"  
"When I said Vice-Captain, I meant _Vice-Captain_, stupid!" She frowned back as she leaned forward to challenge him, both of them still crouched on one knee.  
"And when I said _Vice-Captain,_ I meant you needed a _Captain_ first!"  
"Well, what do you think I am now!" Rukia roared, taking her arm back vigorously as she got up and stepped back from Ichigo.  
"Well, you're…!"

He paused.

"_Well, what do you think I am now!"_

Now?

Ichigo's facial features softened but his mouth remained open as he looked at Rukia's frowning image. He was still on one knee and his hand that used to be holding her arm awhile ago was still mid-stretched and open. He was looking at her form this position and she continued to frown disappointedly with an evident pinkish hue on her cheeks that Ichigo failed to notice anyway.

Captain?

"You're… A… Ca… Ca… Ca…" Ichigo swallowed and she waited for him to finish his sentence but instead, he got up with vigorously with his eyes wide as he pointed at her and yelled, "Then where the crap is your _cape_!?"

BAM!

Before Ichigo could realize it, Rukia's foot landed on his face along with her hollering of "Ichigo! Ba-ka!" Ichigo started backwards, rubbing his face with his palm as she landed in front of him and immediately grabbed him by his haori towards her. He squinted and winced and shook his head to reorient himself to her face that was only a hand's distance from his. Her violet orbs were shining _angrily_ at him and the pink hue had reached up to her neck and Ichigo was thinking that maybe even her whole _scalp_ was pink with embarrassment and anger and disappointment and more of the emotions that made someone's stomach churn weirdly and knees shake unstoppably.

"You're the only Shinigami I know who would react like this upon being asked to be Vice-Captain." Rukia frowned at him, "Just tell me if you're accepting the position or not!"

"Well, excuse me, you don't just bombard someone with a question like "will you be my fukutaichou" and expect them not to freak out when the Captain's weaker than them!"

"WHAT!" Rukia's other hand shot up and grabbed Ichigo's jaw that she gripped tightly, "I _said_, just _tell me_ if you're _accepting_ this or _not_!"  
"Damn you, I don't even know the _squad_ you're heading!" Ichigo said and pried her fingers off his face, "And why not take the already existing Vice-Captain of the—"

"This is a new squad." Rukia said with a serious change in tone that made Ichigo pause and blink at her.

"A new squad?" he blinked twice, "Like… Fourteenth squad or something?"

"No." Rukia shook her head and paused before releasing Ichigo's haori and looking away while speaking, "It's not an official squad, actually. It doesn't even have a name yet. It's a feasibility study squad to be stationed in the human world. And I was assigned to be Captain."

Ichigo gave a low whistle.

She is one small Captain.

"So why're you acting like you don't like the position?" Ichigo tilted his head.  
"It's not that." Rukia rubbed her left arm and sighed lowly, "I mean, give me a break. I haven't held any position before and then all of a sudden…"

The orange-haired Shinigami scratched his head and looked away. If there was anything that made his intestines knot together, it's seeing her, er, someone — yeah, that's it, seeing someone, anyone — in a mood so down that reminded him much of the Shrine of Penitence. Actually, Rukia did not look so down. She just looked agitated and disoriented, which was so unlike her. He smirked at this image of her and put a hand on his waist.

In his head, he knew he was never going to hear the end of this at least from his conscience.

"So why me?"

She did not answer.

"Why not Renji?" Ichigo asked again.  
"I'm not allowed to take any seated officers let alone a Lieutenant." Rukia replied.

"Oh?" Ichigo raised his eyebrow and occupied his self by tracing the sunlight from the small gaps between the leaves above them, "That's your problem? Tell him you want to be his Captain and I'm freaking _sure_ he'll drop his current position for the one you're offering him."

There was no answer except for the sharp glare that she gave him.

"Ichigo…" she started with a voice that sounded like she was gritting her teeth, "Just _tell me_…"  
"Just _tell me_…" Ichigo repeated, returning her glare as his head veered to face her, "… Why me?"

Rukia continued to wear her serious face, looking deep into Ichigo's eyes to see if he was trying to mock her but found no answer. She bit her lip as she drew a deep breath and Ichigo lifted his head as if to tell her he was bracing his self for her answer. Dry wind blew quietly against their skin and the leaves rustled gently. Rukia's hair strayed across her face but she did not bother to brush it away.

"Ichigo, if there's any Shinigami who knows more about this world than anyone else in Sereitei, it's you."

He continued to stare at her.

Was he expecting another or perhaps better answer?

"What about Urahara?"

Or was he undecided?

"Ichigo, I'm not going to beg." Rukia's wide eyes narrowed again, "If you don't want to be my fukutaichou then _say it_."  
"Then what—"  
"Just _say it_, Ichigo." Rukia held the serious face, "Yes. Or. No. I don't have all the time in the world you know."

There was another pause.

"So aside from me… If I decline…" Ichigo began, his eyes began to shift from looking at her face to looking past her and only seeing her from the corner of his eye, "… Who're your other candidates?"

Rukia immediately opened her mouth but slowly closed it. Her lips made a weird pucker as her eyes shifted to one side. And then she pouted in contemplation, wetting her lips and taking short but deep breaths. Ichigo looked at her with only his eyes moving. The little Captain was not saying anything. It seems like she had not prepared for this question. Then maybe she was pretty sure he'd say yes and had no other candidates lined up.

Wonderful, now. Did she think he'd like this position _so much_ that he'd happily accept it? This position that was on the same or perhaps even lower rank than Renji's?

Insult!

But didn't he accept Shinigami Representative work? So why was he complaining about this?

Well, for starters, Shinigami Representative had less work than a Lieutenant. It did not require paperwork. It did not have strict timetables. And it did not have a Captain to mind and adhere to.

Therefore was Shinigami Representative _below_ Lieutenant?

Holy sweet red strands on a stick!

Wait, what has Renji have to do with any of this to begin with? He should be bothered about Byakuya and the other guys. If he would be talking the talk and walking the walk about positions then he should demand that _he_ be Captain and Rukia be his Vice-Captain! Strength-wise, he was superior as well as speed-wise. He did lack detection skills, kidou skills… which were _basic_ Shinigami skills by the way…

Okay, now he's straying away from the issue.

"So you have no one?" Ichigo asked her. She maintained the pout.

"You have no one lined up for Lieutenant _except me_, midget?" he asked again and she frowned in defeat at him. She was turning red again, probably in embarrassment from this person she was asking to be her Vice-Captain.

"Just say no if you don't want to already."  
"Tsch." Ichigo scratched his head and looked away, "Like I have any choice. You should've just told me I can't decline."  
"Ichigo, just— what?" Rukia blinked, the pink hue diminishing for a while.

"I'm going to have to deal with you regarding this one way or another." He shrugged and looked farther away, his hands crossed over his chest, "I'm going to clean up after you now than do it later when things are already worse. You have to thank me for this big time mi—"

THWACK!

Rukia's sheathed sword met the side of Ichigo's head and the younger Shinigami threw to one side. A hand reached for his aching temple and he steadied himself before straightening and giving Rukia an angry glare.

"What was that for!?"  
"If you were going to say yes, you should've just _done that_ from the beginning!" Rukia pointed accusingly with Sode No Shirayuki, "And for a Lieutenant, you sure talk a lot to your superior!"  
"You haven't been Captain for five minutes and you're already going power-tripping on me!" Ichigo pointed with his slender finger at her, "That's it! I've changed my mind!"  
"Silence!" Rukia stormed towards him as she took out something from her sleeve and handed it to him, "Here!"  
"What is that?" Ichigo did not even look at what she was telling him to take.  
"Just take it, you insubordinate fool!"  
"I said I changed my mind already!"  
"Take it or so help me I will carve a hole through you!"

"Uuuuurgh!!" Ichigo gritted his teeth and snatched whatever it was she was handing him. It had a weird shape and he could feel wood and cloth. His facial expression changed and his eyes looked down on his hand. His fingers opened and he saw a brown wooden badge shaped like an inverted house with the letter "X" on it and his Shinigami Representative skull insignia drawn under it.

His adjutant's badge.

"Wear it." She said, looking at his feet, "They're going to be here and the meeting's going to start soon."  
"Meeting?" Ichigo blinked dumbly as he held up the badge's cloth.

Rukia did not reply but instead took the badge, grabbed Ichigo's arm and started tying the Lieutenant's badge on her new Lieutenant's left arm. Ichigo smirked, looking at her as she quietly fastened the cloth around his arm.

The Shinigami Representative skull on the badge... That was the symbol of their squad? She was pretty sure he'd say yes, huh?

Stupid midget.

"I can do that on my own, you know." Ichigo growled at her, seeing only the top of her head but she only smirked in response.

"Tell me if it's too tight." Rukia said.  
"Your small limbs can't "too tight" anything about me." Ichigo replied.  
"You're letting the Captain do that for you!?" Someone hollered.

Okay, who was that?

A young male voice spoke from somewhere around them and Ichigo's usual frown traced across his face. Rukia gasped and backed as Ichigo looked around for the little neck he was imagining to wring to submission.

"Here, fancy locks!"

In an instant, a small body landed roughly and heavily on Ichigo's shoulders and two small hands grabbed his hair. Ichigo growled with a "GAUGH!" as Rukia gasped again, saying something he couldn't understand between the words from a young male voice that was invading his shoulders and everything above it. It was when two small hands grabbed the sides of Ichigo's head and forced him to look up. When Ichiog realized, he was looking into an upside-down face of a little boy who was looking down at him.

"Yo." The boy said like it was the most normal thing in the world.  
"Get off me." Ichigo scowled.  
"Tsk. Tsk." The boy waved a finger at Ichigo, "Rude of you, commoner. But fine."

The boy leapt heavily off Ichigo's shoulder and landed beside Rukia. He was smaller than Hitsugaya Toushiro and looked somewhere between seven to nine years old but was surprisingly wearing Shinigami robes. A sword was hitched by a chain around his hip and he stood with his hazel brown eyes at Ichigo while fixing his pale brown hair.

"I got off you now. Aren't you even going to say Thank You?"

The nerve. Was anyone going to say, "Oh my, someone shrunk Kuchiki Byakuya!"

"Rukia, why do I have this feeling that you happen to _know _this kid?" Ichigo pointed at the budding little menace.

"His name is Soshi." Rukia explained as she touched the boy's shoulder. He looked up at her and sighed before sending Ichigo a serious noble look and said, "My name is Kuchiki Soshi. X Squad's third seat. And you are?"

Ichigo's eyes widened in surprise, shock, betrayal, Armageddon and "atomic-bomb-over-Nagasaki-Hiroshima-and-Kurosaki" emotion while blasting, "Ku-chi-ki!?"

"Yes." Rukia nodded, "He is my nephew."

- End of Seat 2 -

* * *

AN: Second chapter and here I have an OC! Bear with me… I'm having fun writing this story though the conditions were I write isn't necessarily… nice and fun. –slaps forehead- Thank you for the reviews…! I'm getting warmed up for the story and it's glad to see the names I used to see since the trilogy. I love you, guys! I'm hoping the pace is fine. And I also hope you stick around to see how this unfolds! As always, I'm open to suggestions from you guys.

PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!

Cheerios, cookies and a whole lot of Bankai love!


	4. I’m Pleased To Meat You

**Ore No Taichou Daisuki**  
_By Uchiha Xairylle_

**Seat 3: I'm Pleased To Meat You**

* * *

The sky was fairly pretty with fluffy white clouds passing by the view from the large open window of Byakuya's office. He was sitting behind his desk, swishing his brush and marking with his stamps on papers. There were a few boxes with parchment where several envelopes were neatly stacked to his left and a few piles of papers to his right. Renji quietly stood in front of a full-length mirror hanging on the wall of the Sixth Squad Captain's office where said senior officer was sitting quietly. The red-haired lieutenant drew his face towards the mirror while studying his facial features. Then he drew back, still studying his facial features as his nose wrinkled. A finger came up and traced his eyebrows and the tattoos on his forehead.

"My face is proportioned." Renji spoke to no one in particular.

He had said it for the fifth time now, not that Byakuya really cared to count. He was busily stamping documents and signing papers to care if Renji's face was symmetrical, proportioned or hellish. But ever since that witty little comment from Soshi, Renji had been studying his face in the mirror much to Byakuya's annoyance. It seemed as though the fukutaichou forgot that this was a Captain's _office_. A grunt escaped from Renji and then he gasped, looking over his shoulder to see if his Captain heard or gave a damn. The kenseikan-donning Shinigami was still attending to his paperwork, not even sparing Renji a sign of reaction. Renji was used to it, though, not that he really wanted attention from his Captain anyway. He smirked quietly, catching a glimpse of his reflection in the mirror and nodding for some reason.

"I wonder how long it would take for Soshi-kun to get into Ichigo's nerves?"

Renji was still speaking to no one in particular but Byakuya lifted his brush from the paper and quietly lifted his eyes to look at his fukutaichou who was absorbed in studying his face in the mirror.

How long or how short?

--

"Careful with my things, you little twit!"

Ichigo had just returned his table lamp to place after being at the brink of falling off his desk. The young Kuchiki boy nearly knocked it over after commenting on how weird it looked like. That was after he looked at the "paperwork" (homework) on the desk and saying it looked _all wrong_. Right now, Soshi, who had already lost interest in the table lamp, walked towards another side of Ichigo's room while nodding as if quietly studying the room. By order of _Kuchiki_-_taichou_, they retained Shinigami form and Ichigo did not bother to ask why since he was too busy looking at the budding disaster that was walking around his room. While Ichigo was trying to safeguard his things from Soshi, Rukia was sitting cross-legged on the bed and reading manga. Some Captain _she_ was.

"Not really bad for a commoner's hut." Soshi commented now, tilting his head sideways as he eyed Ichigo's bedroom wall."Hut!?" Ichigo growled, "This is my _room_!"  
"So you have a hut for a room. Big deal." The little Kuchiki shrugged as he walked towards his obasan, "I've seen larger huts to begin with."

_This kid is SO missing the point._

"And I'm not just missing the point here, if that's what you're thinking." Soshi picked up one of the manga lying beside Rukia and climbed up the bed, "It doesn't mean I already acknowledge you as fukutaichou."

"Soshi." Rukia said plainly, her mind still absorbed in the manga she was reading.

"It's true, obachan." Soshi said, opening the manga and crawling farther towards the other side of the bed, "It's not like he was chosen because he was extra special or something."  
"He's the best option." Rukia said again without lifting her eyes from the page she was reading and Soshi merely replied with a short, skeptical, "Mmm-hmm."

"I'm actually overqualified for this position if you ask me." Ichigo commented as he put his hands on his waist, "It's already embarrassing for me to have a Captain that's a mid—"

HWACK!

Ichigo's scowling face met with the pages of the comic that was thrown as ruthlessly as possible by the little boy on the bed. The manga fell from Ichigo's face and the Shinigami Representative looked down on the reading material on his feet.

"Stop calling my obachan a midget, you hideous dandelion skull!" Soshi pointed accusingly at Ichigo, "You're talking to a Kuchiki Captain! Know your place!"

Actually, Ichigo was going to say mid-ranked Shinigami but it didn't matter right now, did it?

"_You're_ talking to your _Lieutenant, Third Seat Boy_!" Ichigo kicked the manga up and grabbed it with his hand in mid-air, "You're in my room! Know your place!"  
"I'm Kuchiki!" Soshi was now standing on the bed, "Counting that makes us equal!"  
"I don't give a damn if you're Byaku-botch's son!"  
"I'm not his son!"  
"Well, I don't ca—You're not?" Ichigo's face tilted and he blinked, looking at Rukia for any answers, "He's not?"  
"He's _not_." Rukia closed the manga she was reading with a sigh as she looked up at Ichigo, "He's the son of oniisama's second cousin."  
"Cousin?"  
"Yes." Rukia nodded and set the manga aside, "What are you so surprised about?"  
"Byakuya has a cousin?"

"That's Kuchiki-taichou to you!" Soshi threatened to hit Ichigo with his fist but the Shinigami Representative could not care less as he said, "I never knew there were other Kuchiki than the two of you."

"Well, now you do." Rukia said formally, straightening her hakama as she spoke, "Geez, Ichigo. You can't be a clan leader with only two people in your so-called clan."

Ichigo smirked. The petite Shinigami monster was right. He looked at her and her woodblock face's worth of Kuchiki. Wow. She was really getting into this "Captain" thing. Even her facial feature says it all. Her violet eyes were somberly looking at him as his eyes studied the softness of her hair, fairness of her cheeks, the creaminess of her neck, the…

"HENTAI!" Soshi's voice filled the room and Ichigo's face caught the flying pillow that the little Kuchiki had thrown on him. Ichigo's hand quickly made a snatch for the pillow and threw it back to Soshi who dodged it just in time.

"HENTAI!" The little boy repeated, "SUKEBE! HENTAI! ECCHI!"  
"I'm not hentai!" Ichigo glared at him, "You take that back!"

"I _knew_ it! Byakuya-ojisama was right about you!" Soshi said loudly and Rukia raised a small eyebrow at the yelling boy, "You _are_ hentai! He was right! He said Rukia-obachan would choose you as fukutaichou and you would agree and you then when no one's looking you would— oh dear kami! — you would — Aaaaargh! Oh, my _innocent mind_…!"

Ah, so Byaku-botch had brainwashed his little nephew with such _lies_. And _hideous_ lies at that! The boy was now talking to his self and whatever it was he was saying, Ichigo had no idea whatsoever and had no intentions of learning of it as well. Soshi was looking at his hands, saying something in mutters that even Rukia looked on with a quizzical expression across her face. She looked at Ichigo who was looking flatly at her as if to blame her.

"What's with him…?" Ichigo spoke in a low whisper as he stepped towards Rukia who shrugged.

"You're not _qualified_ to be fukutaichou!" Soshi said, stomping towards the spot beside Rukia, "No wonder ojisama sent me to represent his squad for this mission! Stay away from her!"

"Aha, so the kenseikan monster sent you, huh!" Ichigo shot back with a finger at Soshi.  
"I said that's Kuchi—"

"I will call him _whatever_ I want to call him!" Ichigo took one forceful, angry step forward, "Byakuy-brat, Byaku-botch, fancy clips, kenseikan monster, thin snake hair…"

--

Way over in Sereitei, there was a short, noble sneeze.

"Wow, Taichou." Renji commented while looking at Byakuya from the mirror, "Maybe you should close the windows."

Byakuya said nothing.

_Or maybe someone should stop talking about me._

--

BA-BAM!!

Ichigo's vision shook with his world. His gaze jazzed violently from Soshi's face to his bedroom wall to the ceiling before his head and body met the floor. Rukia was saying something and he could hear Soshi yell something, too along with a loud, female in hysterics.

"HOW DARE YOU CALL MY BELOVED BYAKUSHI THOSE HIDEOUS NAMES WITH NO BASIS!"

Okay, there was a third person in his room.

And a noisy, violent one at that.

--

"Matsumoto." Hitsugaya Toushiro crossed his arms in front of his chest as he scowled at his Vice Captain sleeping, spread scandalously on the couch as she giggled in her sleep. Her arm right arm was dangling off the couch and her right leg had dropped to the floor. Her mouth was open, giggling in between snores as she scratched her nose with her left arm. Hitsugaya growled and gave off a heavy sigh, rubbing a finger against his forehead.

"Matsumoto."

She was not waking up.

"Matsumoto…!"

Louder this time.

"Matusmoto!"

The girl was giggling again.

"MATSUMOTO!"

"WHAAAAAAATTTT—ttttttttatatataaaaaichou!"

Matsumoto's wide eyes met those of her frowning Captain. She blinked heavily, reorienting herself and breathing heavily upon realizing that there was no danger — just an angry Captain undergoing adolescence a little overdue. She gave a big yawn as she stretched and scratched her head, blinking lazily as Hitsugaya scowled. Most Vice-Captains would snap to attention for being so _languid_ in front of their Captain but Matsumoto was Matsumoto. Leave it to her to _not_ realize that slugging around was not part of a Vice-Captains to-do list.

"What's the matter?" the well-endowed fukutaichou asked casually without even bothering to sit up.

"Aside from you continuing to lie shamelessly on the couch and by that I mean _my_ couch nonetheless…" Hitsugaya spoke in a very heavy sigh of annoyance, "I was going to ask you if you already sent someone from our squad to the X Squad."

"X Sq— Oh!" Matsumoto sat up and Hitsugaya stepped back in reaction, "Yes, yes! I sent someone really convenient!"

Convenient, eh? Hitsugaya wanted to ask her how she actually defined convenient for it to be used to describe a person. But he dismissed that option since he was holding no interest in arguing with her because she might find a reason to talk about his puberty and how to revive it… _again_. He held his breath to stabilize his patience and sighed eventually as he turned to walk back to his desk. Matsumoto blinked at him without even bothering to fix her sitting position involving her legs spread awkwardly on the couch.

"Taichou, aren't you going to ask me who I sent?"  
"Not really." Hitsugaya said, walking towards the chair behind his table.  
"But Taaaaaaichou!" Matsumoto finally clamped her legs together as she pouted as Hitsugaya sat on his chair, "Taichou!"  
"I'll take your word for it, Matsumoto… I'll trust you that he's… _convenient_."

_Whatever the hell THAT means._

"But _Taichou_!" Matsumoto was now holding her fists under her chin as she wailed in her "complaining woman" voice.  
"Matsumoto…" Hitsugaya growled, taking a thick block of papers from his drawer, "What do you want me to _say_?"

There was a sound of somewhere between a grunt and a purr from Matsumoto Rangiku. Hitsugaya's eyes moved as he held the papers in his hands, "_What_?"

"Well, for _one_, taichou, our squad sent a _she_."  
"And by that you mean?"

--

"Get… Off… Me… You… Wo—OOAF!"

Pawned. That would be the term to describe Ichigo's state.

"You insolent brat!" the new Shinigami girl hollered at Ichigo who lay with his stomach on the floor. She was stepping on him, actually and stomping her right foot on his back, making him twitch as he tried getting up.

"Hey!" Soshi jumped off the bed and towards the new girl, "Get your own prey!"

"_You_ stay out of thi—!" she yelled and then paused, her eyes beaming with stars upon recognizing the young boy scowling beside her as she called him with her sing-song voice, "Why Sooooooshiiiii!"

"Hello there, wonderful little boy who happens to be my future husband's nephew!" she squealed at him and then proceeded to glomp him after jumping off Ichigo's body on the floor. The little boy yelped in surprise at suddenly being surrounded by a woman's limbs. Ichigo growled as he shook his head and Rukia walked towards him and crouched beside him to see if he was okay.

"_Future husband_?" Ichigo raised an eyebrow at Rukia.  
"That's according to her." Rukia shrugged, offering her to help Ichigo up.

"How has your wonderfully, sexy, gorgeous, hunky, so-going-to-get-raped-by-me _ojisama_ been doing lately!?"  
"That's _Kuchiki Byakuya-taichou_ to you!" the little Kuchiki boy glared at her and threatened to pry her limbs off him.  
"Ara, Soshi!" she detached from him and waved a finger at his face, "That's not the right way to talk to the future wife of the current clan leader!"

"Great. More crap." Ichigo groaned as he got up. Rukia cleared her throat and the new Shinigami girl perked up, seeing the petite Kuchiki who was already standing beside Ichigo and wearing a serious look across her face.

"Rukia-chaaaaaaaaaaaan!" she squealed again, twirling towards Byakuya's little sister.

"Hey! I'm still talking to you!" Soshi grabbed the end of her Shinigami haori and she fumbled forward, her feet getting tangled and losing her balance before eventually hitting the floor with her sides first. She fell with a thud and Soshi immediately jumped back as precaution. The girl twitched on the floor before shakily getting up and rubbing the side of her head with "itai, itai" in between.

"Araaaaaaaaaaaaa, Soshi-kuuuuuuun…" she said in a scary, smiling woman's voice, "Is that the right way to treat your _future obasama_?"

She got up. It was only now that Ichigo was carefully able to study her features. She was a slim lady wearing a scandalously low cut haori in the likes of Matsumoto Rangiku's. The sides of her violet hair were tied in braids and drawn towards the back of her head to keep away from her face. She had a rather small set of bangs falling over her forehead and just above her eyebrows. Ichigo's gaze scrolled down, eyeing her waist-length hair that was tied in the end to keep from messing up.

"Rukia-chan, could you please tell this awful orange-head to stop staring perversely at me." She turned with a pout around and away from Ichigo. Rukia glared at her fukutaichou who immediately sported wide, aggravated eyes, "What was that!?"

"I don't even know who you are!"

The newly-arrived well-endowed purple-haired lady snickered and flipped her hair in what Ichigo thought was to show-off. She put a hand on her waist and with the fullest of her dignity, head held up high.

"My name is…" her mouth opened but never finished.

"Murasaki Sumire." Said a monotone voice.

Great. Another one.

--

"NEMU, WHERE ARE YOU, YOU HALF-WIT!!"

Anyone would recognize that sentence.

"NEMU!"

And anyone could predict the reply with 99.9 accuracy.

"Hai, Mayuri-sama?"

She was walking as timidly and quietly as possible but at the same time hurriedly as her apathetic eyes gazed over her Captain, creator and father. He was glaring at her and frowning at her, his white set of annoying and somewhat large teeth exposed for some reason. He was always like that — donning the strangest of expressions… as strange as the variety of hats he had chosen to wear. Nemu had approached Mayuri as soon as he had called her yet he looked somewhat annoyed as if he had to wait for several minutes uncalled for. Regardless, he glared at her and motioned to hit her but decided not to.

"What happened to the report on specimen A52-553?" he asked.

"The documentation has been loaded in our system, Mayuri-sama." Mayuri said as quietly and lowly as possible not because she thought it was proper but because she was programmed to be such, "A52-533 has been transferred to a new holding cell."

"Good. I'll look into that later." The Twelfth Squad Captain nodded approvingly in the rare times that he did and he turned to look at his work table. It was a long table with colored, labeled bottles — some of which had boiling liquid while others contained things that would probably be better off not being spoken of. There were scientific equipment, which looked more like torture devices and papers tacked on the wall in front of it. Nemu remained standing behind her Captain whose eyes darted here to there across the table. There was a rat-rabbit-like thing that ran across the table and Mayuri followed it with his eyes. Nemu's quick fingers took it by its strange long and yet fluffy tail.

"By the way, who did you send to that feasibility study squad?" Mayuri asked Nemu.  
"I sent my oneesan, Mayuri-sama."

"Good." Mayuri nodded and put on a pair of gloves over his disturbingly twitching and moving fingers, "That prototype would be good enough. No need to waste the good inventions for that squad."

Nemu did not say anything and looked at the annoying thing that was trying to escape her fingers.

"Now, strap that on the table before it—".

In a split second, the rat-rabbit creature growled a lion's growl and in an instant, it developed a half-mask over its eyes. Nemu immediately leapt away as the experimental creature transformed into a tiger with a lion's mane and two snake tails. Mayuri groaned frustratingly and glared angrily at Nemu.

"YOU ARE SUCH A HALF-WIT!"

--

"Who is there!?" Sumire immediately whipped around and on the window sat a shinigami with jet black hair and bangs similar to Nemu's but with hair freely flowing behind her. She was wearing a black kimono also the same as Nemu's but had white stockings that reached up her leg and just below her thigh. Her eyes were deep brown and looked very dead and had a mole below her left eye.

Ichigo rolled his eyes away.

"Murasaki Sumire." The new girl said again, "Surrogate sister of Matsumoto Rangiku. Both belong to Tenth Squad of the Gotei Thirteen, automatically making them under Hitsugaya Toushiro. Murasaki and Sumire both mean violet, pertaining to the color of her hair and people wonder whether all the hair in her body is—"

"HOLD IT _RIGHT THERE_, MISSY!" An enraged, embarrassed, blushing Sumire immediately grabbed her Zanpakutou to draw had Rukia not shouted for her to stop. Ichigo was holding the urge to slap his forehead. This was turning into a circus. If this girl decided to wreck his room, someone's going to get it and his vision moved to look at Rukia. She had one hell of a rowdy squad.

"What hair?" Soshi tilted his head and looked at Ichigo and Rukia.  
"Too adult-ish for you." Ichigo told the boy but did not look at him. Soshi pouted and muttered something that sounded like getting even.

"Hair…" Ashira said emotionlessly, "…A keratinised protein filament that grows through the epidermis from follicles deep within the dermis. Found exclusively in mammals, it is one of the of the defining characteristic of the mammalian class."

"Who are you?" Rukia asked, stepping in front of Sumire so that she could not inch towards the girl on the window.

"My name is Kurotsuchi Aishira and sent from the Twelfth Squad." She said in monotone as she looked flatly dead at Rukia who had her serious, Kuchiki woodblock face mode turned on. Apathetic as she was, she hopped off the window and made a courteous bow, "Yoroshiku Onegai Shimasu… Kuchiki Rukia-taichou."

For a moment there, there was a blush across Rukia's face and her left leg nearly took a step back in surprised of being called "taichou". Everyone else in the room missed it — heck, probably even Rukia didn't notice herself tensing — but Ichigo did, not that he was naturally keen when it came to Rukia or anything. It was just so unlike her to nerve-rack like that. But even before Ichigo could sort out how Rukia felt upon being called "Captain", Aishira turned to him and bowed, "Yoroshiku Onegai Shimasu… Kurosaki Ichigo-fukutaichou."

_Brr._

That sent jitters down his spine for some reason.

"I am glad to join this squad." She said again.  
"Ah, well…" Ichigo scratched his head.

She did say "glad" but the expression on her face looked like "I fell off the cliff five minutes ago". Her surname was Kurotsuchi. Perhaps she was one of his mod-soul experiments.

"Ah, well…" Sumire was sporting a strange pout as she eyed Aishira, "Welcome to the squad. My name is Murasaki Sumire, X Squad's third sea—"

"Hooooooold it!" Soshi hollered, "_I'm_ third seat!"

Sumire raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms as she smiled as if to say, "You've got to be kidding me." Soshi frowned at her and Ichigo sighed with Rukia in unison.

"You _do_ know who you're smiling at like that, don't you?" Soshi said seriously in a tone full-worth of Kuchiki. Ichigo wanted to release a low whistle but decided not to.

"Kuchiki Soshi." Aishira started talking like a possessed mannequin, "Kuchiki Byakuya's nephew and the only son of the clan leader's second cousin, Kuchiki Yamato and his wife Kuchiki Kaoru."

"That's right and I—!" Soshi started but never finished upon Aishira's continuation.

"He boasts of taking over the clan after the current clan leader Kuchiki Byakuya and…" Aishira stopped, her head lifted as if to snap to attention. Rukia gasped and she and Ichigo looked at each other.

"What is it?" Rukia asked.

"Kawamura Enji." Aishira said and Ichigo was starting to feel freaked out from the kind of expression she wore on her face. Her eyes held no emotion and she talked like a computer.

Wait a minute.

Kawamura Enji?

Someone's arrived?

Where?

"First Squad. No information in database." Aishira said continuously, "Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Refreshing database for data collection…"

No information?

Aishira's bright yet dead brown eyes slowly changed into black and she stood quietly as if she had shut down. The four other Shinigami in the room looked at each other. No information? A Shinigami with no information and coming from the First Squad no less?

"Kawamura…" Rukia began.

"… Enji?" Ichigo finished.

Sumire shrugged and Soshi started towards the window to take a look. The three other Shinigami followed suit and looked out the window. There on the tree near Ichigo's window sat a young man with dark brown hair sitting on the thick branches. He wore a sleeveless haori and had thick black belts on his wrists. In his left arm, he held a female ball-joint doll dressed in the robes of a shamanic priestess. Its hair was long, silky and black and its eyes were red. The new male Shinigami lifted his gaze from the doll and towards the four Shinigami looking at him from the window.

His eyes.

Both of them were blue except that the right eye was in a lighter shade than the left.

His gaze shifted from Soshi to Sumire to Ichigo to Rukia. And without a word he nodded at them before turning his attention back to the doll in his arm.

"Database refreshed and ready for upload." Aishira's voice broke the short silence, "X Squad. Complete."

* * *

AN: Sorry this took longer to upload. I had stuff to do. I had a report to finish and I had to help up other people with school work. Exam week just ended. I'm disappointed at my grades because I think it's been unfairly given. What the hell…

Anyway, yeah, we have the X-Squad! Give 'em a round of applause, people! To those who hate OC's, I'm sorry but this is the way the story is. The original characters will play their roles, though. Patience is a virtue? Haha. I know you guys still have questions hanging and I'm hoping to answer them in the next chapter. To tell you the truth, I was so excited in getting to finish this chapter but I really was so busy. I'm also excited on working on the rest of the fic but this one is a special chapter because it introduces a lot of OC's all at once. The transition was a challenge. Haha.

So there. Please read and review.

Cheerios, cookies and a whole lot of Bankai love!


	5. XSquad Complete!

**Ore No Taichou Daisuki  
**_By Uchiha Xairylle_

**Seat 4 : X-Squad Complete!**

**

* * *

**Ishida adjusted his glasses.

"Excuse me." Ishida said calmly.

"Hai?" Orihime replied lively.

"Can anyone tell me again _why_ we're looking like burglars climbing towards Kuroaski's bedroom?"

Ishida had no idea how Orihime convinced him into doing this. They were currently climbing a tree with Orihime in her P.E. uniform in the lead as Ishida followed. Last was the Chad who had Ichigo's body in cardiac arrest on his shoulder. Because Inoue was leading, they were moving in quite a slow pace. The tree was near Ichigo's bedroom where the lights were on.

"It's already starting to get dark. Kurosaki-kun has to go home. We can't knock in the front door because his family will see his unconscious body and they'll think his dead!" Orihime reasoned as she clumsily climbed up the tree, "This... is... the only way... Ishi... da-kun!"

"I agree." Chad said.

Ishida shook his head.

Wasn't this more disturbing? What if someone in the neighborhood caught them? Ishida's father would most gladly make him swallow a Quincy arrow if he was asked to pick him up in jail. Wouldn't it be better if they just waited for Ichigo to come back for his damn body? Why couldn't they just leave his body under Urahara's care? That would be easier since they knew how to treat a not-so-dead-but-technically-dead body owned by a Shinigami representative. He should've just dismissed Inoue's ideas and went home. What could go wrong with Ichigo's body? His orange hair would turn black? That would probably make him happy!

"OW!" Ishida winced as a foot landed on his face.

"Ah! G-Gomen!" Inoue exclaimed.

Ishida was just glad his glasses didn't break or he'd have bigger problems than just not getting caught by neighborhood watch. The Quincy rubbed his thankfully not broken nose as they continued up the tree.

"Aaaaah...!!" That was Rukia's voice. A bit strained. A bit enduring. A bit breathless.

"What are you _doing_, you idiot!?"

"I'm doing my best! Don't complain! It's not like I do this everyday!"

That was Ichigo. Equally as breathless.

"Let's not jump into conclusions." Ishida said before anyone could say anything, "Please continue climbing."

"Ichigo, do it _harder_!"

"I _am_ doing it _harder_, Miss bossy midget ma'm!"

"Well, that's not _hard enough_!"

"_Excuse me_!? I don't think _you're_ doing your share!"

"W-what's going on in there...?" Inoue gasped at Ishida. It was dark but the Quincy could see her blushing as Chad gave a short, "Hmm."

Unfortunately, they could not see any moving shadows to give them any _more_ ideas.

"D-d-do you think it's okay?"

Ishida nodded.

"Stop making her do so much work, you idiot!" said a child.

"Shut up and just watch, you prick!" Ichigo again, strained breathless voice signaling effort and movement, "Let's see you do this when you grow up, you little—!"

"ICHIGO, _NOT_ _THERE_!"

"TELL THAT BRAT TO SHUT UP!"

At this point, Inoue was just about to fall of the tree as she constantly muttered, "Th-there's a kid in there... Araaaaa... Kurosaki-kun... Kuchiki-saaaaaan..." She was as red as an apple and Ishida was busily trying to support her while carefully not falling off himself. Ishida Uryuu had never cursed the weight of those "assets" of Inoue until now. They were providing extra unnecessary weight! Whatever that Kurosaki bastard was doing, they were very much concentrated on it. And whatever it was, they were making enough sounds to make it sound like... like... like...

Well, whatever!

"Ishida, are you okay?" Chad asked flatly.

"Well what does it look like?" Ishida replied as lowly as possible and Chad continued staring as if contemplating.

Great. The muscle man was processing data at a very wrong time.

"Oh, you two..." it was a female voice far different from Rukia's. It sounded older and Matsumoto-ish, "Let me help you with that."

Another girl!? How many people were in there!?

"No, no, nonononononononoNO! NO!" That was Ichigo again, "OW! OW!"

"Ah! Ow! Wait! WAIT! OW!" Rukia said frantically, "WAIT! OW!"

"You're not getting anything done with just the both of you!" the older lady again.

"I think they're getting hurt for real." And the child.

No more!

Orihime had lost half her consciousness and was now threatening to drag Ishida off the tree. The Quincy wanted to slap his forehead if only he had a free hand. Reasoning that he didn't want to suffer explaining to his father why he had a broken anything that a Hollow did not cause, Ishida used a hirenkyaku to quickly move beside Orihime and land the both of them on a branch near the window. He could've done that earlier but he did not want to risk that a neighbor would see or something.

Ishida's attention was caught by a shadow in Ichigo's room. It was the shadow of a man facing them. The window opened and Ishida came face-to-face with an unfamiliar man with eyes of two different shades of blue and holding a shamanic-priestess doll.

A Shinigami!

Ishida was about to say something when a girl with apathetic eyes stepped in and looked at them and said, "Ishida Uryuu. Quincy. Age fifteen. High school. Can shoot arrows using—"

"Intruders." Said the male Shinigami with the doll, "Eliminate."

"Acknowledged." Said the robotic-speaking girl.

Ishida knew it wasn't good at all.

Both Shinigami started to draw their swords.

Uh-oh!

"W-Wait!" Ishida managed to say.

"Hey, you two, what're you drawing your swords for!?" Ichigo's voice came from the room.

"Eliminate." Enji said again and he and Aishira jumped out the window. Ichigo was yelling something after them. All of a sudden, the orange-haired Shinigami was behind his subordinates and tackled them in mid-air. Ishida's eyes widened and Chad muttered an, "Oh."

"Ishida?" Ichigo managed to say. It was that and nothing more, as the three of them free-fell from the height of the window. There were thuds and thumps and curses as Ichigo's Shinigami body met the ground.

"Ichigo!" Rukia's voice came from the window followed by a girl with purple hair and a small boy.

"Is he dead yet!?" Soshi asked loudly.

"Ichigo, are you okay!?" Rukia yelled back.

The orange-haired Shinigami grunted. Why? Well, why not? Enji was sitting on his shoulders and Aishira was standing on his back. And both of them were quietly sheathing their swords.

"Did you hear something?" Yuuzu's voice came from inside the house.

Ichigo's heart skipped a beat.

"The crickets!?" Isshin replied happily.

"Those were too noisy to be crickets!" Karin complained.

"Awwwwwww!! Is my daughter scared! Come shudder in daddy's bosom!"

"NO!" Karin yelled followed by violent sounds, "Stay where you are! I'm going to go check what it was!"

Not good! Not good! Karin could see ghosts, Hollows and probably even Shinigami!

"Enji! Aishira! Get inside!" Rukia whispered lowly but loud enough for them to hear.

"Hai!" the two chorused and in one shunpo, they were gone.

"Ishida-kun, in here!" Rukia stepped to one side and Ishida nodded before jumping into the window with an unconscious Inoue.

Good. It had been taken care of. Karin's footsteps were getting closer.

"Chad!" Ichigo signaled to the large, dark-skinned classmate, "My body!"

"Here." Chad positioned Ichigo's body by holding it up by its shoulders. Ichigo immediately ran towards his body and phased in it completely as soon as Karin opened the window.

"Nobody's the—!" Isshin stopped in the middle of his sentence upon seeing his son open his eyes and being held by the shoulders by his large, Mexican classmate Chad. Ichigo opened his eyes and saw the look on his father's face. His mouth was open. His eyes were wide. His eyebrows were raised. Ichigo sported a questioning look and suddenly realized how Chad was holding him by the shoudlers.

"Good evening." Chad greeted as if nothing awkward was happening.

"AGH! WAIT!" Ichigo jumped away from Chad, "I-i-i-i-i-it's not what it—!!"

"MASAKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!" Isshin's voice trailed off with him as he ran towards his wife's giant picture in the house. Ichigo sighed heavily and shook his head. His dad never listened to him when it counts.

"What's with the noise, Ichi-nii?" Karin asked.

"What's wrong with Otousan?" Yuuzu approached and saw Ichigo, "Ah! Okaeri nasai, Oniichan!"

"Ah, yeah, well, forget about that." Ichigo scratched his head, "Either I'll be coming home late or I'm not going to come home tonight."

"You could have just _called_." Karin rolled her eyes away and turned to go inside, "Sheesh, creating such a ruckus. At least tell Yuuzu where you're going!"

"We're going to do a project." Ichigo told the slightly pouting Yuuzu, "It's group work so... I'm kind of busy. Hands full."

"Would you like to have some dinner first?" Yuuzu tilted her head.

"N-n-no, I don't think so." Ichigo shook his head and stole a glance towards his bedroom window where he could she shadows moving in a disturbing way. Those people better not destroy his room or they're going to get it.

"Anyway, we have to go now. You can go back inside now." Ichigo waved at his sister, "Bye...!"

"Bye..." Chad waved apathetically.

"O-okay... Bye..." Yuuzu closed the window and went inside.

Ichigo sighed heavily in relief saying, "That was close."

Then his phone started ringing.

"He—"

"Hello, Ichigo, are you okay?" Rukia's voice came from the phone.

"I'm alive, if you call that an answer."

"What kind of an answer is that!?" Rukia hollered from the earpiece that made Ichigo scowl and say, "Look, let's meet up at Urahara's place like we planned. Make the whole squad to climb down from my bedroom window _carefully_, do you understand? The members of my family are not weirdos..."

Ichigo paused.

"... My dad will get stupid ideas if you make any strange noises, do you understand?"

"Of course, I understand!" Rukia said.

"Hardeeeeeeeeeeeeeer, meganeeeeeeeee!!" Sumire's bossy holler made it's way to Ichigo's ear.

"Why do I need to do this!?" Ishida complained in a tone worth of heavy work.

_That_ again.

"Could you please tell Aishira to do _something_ about that giant apparatus she set up in my room?" Ichigo said flatly, "It's going to take a rhino to move that thing."

Rukia sighed.

"I'll—"

"Hey, _Vice-Captain_!" the sarcastic sound of Soshi's voice interrupted Rukia. By the way things sounded, he was probably forcing his head beside Rukia's to speak on the phone, "I'm hungry, _Vice-Captain_!! Hungry enough to _eat you_! Feed me! Your hut doesn't seem to have any stock of food so if you continue living here, you'll most probably die an ugly death thanks to starvation and—!!"

"GOODBYE."

Ichigo ended the call.

- End of Seat 4 -

* * *

Author: Oh, yeah! I haven't died! That or I've come back to life! I'MA CONTINUE THE FIC NOW SO DON'T KILL ME!! DON'T KILL ME!! Sorry to all that I've had hanging. I've been receiving PM's and e-mails about this so I continued it after getting the plot going in my head again. I'm also working on my ByakuHisa fic. If you have time, I hope you could give it a chance? –smiles- I hope I'm able to pull off writing two different fics at once. And I hope you haven't gotten tired of me... yet! But I won't blame you if you've lost interest. It's probably my fault if you don't want to give me any more cookies. Uwaaaah!! There are a lot of things have happened and this fic has some sentimental meaning and effect to me since my OC's came from real-life people. Haha. I love 'em all.

So what to expect... Well, a twist perhaps? I guess that's the only clue I can give you right now without giving away the rest of the story. I hope my OC's don't annoy you because I love 'em all!

There we have it. The end of the fourth chapter. Tell me what you think.

R&R! Cheerios, Cookies and a whole lot of Bankai love!


	6. The One Who Supports The Captain

**Ore No Taichou Daisuki  
**_By Uchiha Xairylle_

**Seat 5 : The One Who Supports The Captain**

**

* * *

  
**

"Omnomnomnomnomnom...!!"

"Oh, wow..." Ururu said lowly, holding a tray to her chin.

"How long have you kept this thing unfed?" Jinta pointed to Soshi who had _elegantyl _wolfed down several bowls of rice and soup since Tessai had started serving dinner to X-Squad and company. Soshi spared him a sharp glare, but did not say anything as he continued to finish up his ramen with a low slurping sound.

Urahara did not seem surprised when the X-Squad arrived and Tessai was more than happy to prepare dinner for the guests. Soshi was the most famished while Sumire insisted she was on a strict diet. A now conscious Orihime was now sipping tea and was still half-shocked about the images that had gone through her mind. Ishida was not sure what the heck he was still doing with these idiots when he could've just gone home. Ichigo felt it was rather awkward that everyone insisted that he sit to the right of "the Captain", whom he called "the midget" and receiving several reprimands from Soshi and sometimes from Sumire. He had heard several word meanings from Aishira who spurted out things like a thesaurus either at will or at random. There must be a keyword for that feature of her or something. Ururu had frozen upon seeing Soshi when she opened the door and Tessai had to carry her back into the house until she was able to defrost her self. Jinta was very rough around the edges as usual and somehow had a very enraged eye at Soshi, who was too sophisticated and cute to care.

"That was rude thing to say, boy with red hair." Sumire commented at Jinta and sipped some sake before adding, "At least to say to a Kuchiki of your age."

"You're one to talk, sake monster!" Jinta glared at Sumire.

And then the sake bottle quickly hit Jinta's forehead without spilling any of its alcoholic contents.

"OW!" Jinta backed and rubbed his forehead.  
"Oh, dear me! The sake bottle slipped from my hand and bounced of that overly ugly flaring red head of yours!" Sumire said innocently, "Is your pathetic impish brain okay?"  
"You monst—OW!"  
"Ah, it slipped again!"  
"You did that on purpose, you wit—OW!"  
"Oh my! There it goes again! What a slick bottle this is now, isn't it?!"  
"Stop that or I'll—OW!"  
"It seems the bottle likes your vibrant empty head very much!"

"Ara... Now, now, would you please stop that, the both of you." Urahara waved his fan as he laughed, "You're much too lively!"  
"Oh, but I'm not doing anything!" Sumire shrugged with a wonderful innocent pout, "The sake bottle is rather slick!"  
"Manager, she did it on purpose! Kill he—OW!"  
"See?" Sumire grinned and sipped some sake.

Urahara could feel that sweatdrop forming at the back of his head. The fusuma behind him slid slowly and in came a black cat. Yoruichi was about to stretch when Urahara picked her up and put her on his lap before stroking her fur. Yoruichi purred for a while, scratching her ear before looking at the other people in the room. Aishira's eyes lit up and looked at the human in feline form before speaking.

"Shihouin Yoruichi. Ex-Shinigami Captain of Twelfth Squad. She goes by the nickname of the Goddess of Flash and was also the former head of the—"  
"You're a mouthful. What's your name?"

"My name is Kurotsuchi Aishira, sent from the Twelfth Squad and currently a member of the X-Squad." The girl said without any change of expression at all. She was barely moving and her eyes looked like she was looking past the talking cat on Urahara's lap, "Yoroshiku Onegai Shimasu, Shihouin Yoruichi-san..."

Ichigo thought it was the same line of introduction that she used when she arrived last time. He could be wrong but could Mayuri have programmed her to introduce her self in only one way? Stupid scientist. If it's true Mayuri created her, would that mean she was patterned after Nemu or Nemu was patterned after her? Either way, Ichigo thought Aishira was rather lucky to have been part of this squad than Mayuri's since she'd be free from her seniors slashing her at will or using her as a shield or calling her names like "half-wit" or "twit". Besides, waking up and not seeing a mad scientist with scientific male kabuki make-up, weird headgears and popping eyeballs was such a relief. Aishira must be so _happy_ in a mod soul kind of way.

"Enji, aren't you going to eat anything?" Rukia looked at her male subordinate who was busy brushing his doll's hair. He spared her a gentle glance before shaking his head slowly and turning his attention back to his doll.

"THANK YOU FOR THE FOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!" Soshi announced happily as he stretched. His features were being covered by the towers of empty rice bowls, platters and noodle bowls in front of him. Ichigo raised any eyebrow before swallowing his dumpling.

"Urahara-san..." Rukia announced, looking at the ceramic glass she was holding before she paused for a while probably to earn some guts, "When everyone's ready, I'd like to borrow your training space below the shop."

"Borrow isn't actually the term but its okay." Urahara shrugged. "I sort of knew you were going to use it anyway so I had it cleaned beforehand."

Cleaned? Rukia and Ichigo both raised their eyebrows. There was a way that large space could actually be _cleaned_ or was Urahara overshadowing something? Moreover, the training space got _dirty_? Was that even _possible_? Besides, it would take quite a long time even for a group to clean that place properly. And was there a person willing to spend probably half his lifetime in devotion to cleaning such a training _space_?

"There's a training space below this shop?" Soshi blinked and looked around the room, probably judging it's space, "I wonder..."  
"It's bigger than this shop, noble kid." Jinta replied with a snicker and rubbed a finger under his nose, "It's something someone like you can not understand."  
"You know..." Soshi sighed as he fixed his sleeves, "In as much as I want to spare you some attention, I just don't have time for someone like you."  
"WHAT DID Y—!" Jinta stood up violently when a sake bottle flew towards his nose, "OW!"

The red-haired kid shook his head and rubbed his nose before glaring at Sumire who was innocently sipping sake from the bottle.

"X-Squad, huh..." Yoruichi said seriously, "Congratulations on your promotion, Kuchiki Rukia."  
"A-ah!" Rukia exclaimed, obviously caught off-guard, "T-Thank you, I think... Though this is just a test squad and holds no official position so I wouldn't actually call it a promotion..."  
"Nonsense." Urahara waved his fan in a very happy manner, "You were chosen because you were worthy and you are worthy because of your skills! You should feel good about yourself, Kuchiki-san!"

Rukia smiled, "Arigatou."

"Congratulations to you, too, Kurosaki-kun!" Urahara turned to Ichigo who was slouching as he motioned to take a dumpling, "How does it feel!?"

"Well..." Ichigo took the food and put it in his mouth. He chewed lazily for a while and swallowed and paused before saying, "I don't really know since it's my first time having a senior in the Shinigami way of things. I just think of it as supporting Rukia."

Urahara muttered a small, "Oh?" and started to fan his self. Sumire jeered slightly. Rukia looked with only her eyes moving at Ichigo who wasn't looking at her at all.

_Supporting me?_

Perhaps she did not make any mistake in choosing Ichigo. Perhaps he was looking out for her on this one. Perhaps he didn't want her to get hurt or perhaps he wanted to protect her like he always seemed to do though he used rather indirect approaches. That could be it

_Ichigo, maybe you're not such a bad Vice-Captain after all..._

"After all..." Ichigo took one of the dumplings again, "I _did_ save her back then so if I'm going to end up cleaning up after her mess then might as well do it early, right?"

A string snapped.

_What was I thinking!_

"Ichigo!" Rukia's fist met with Ichigo's right cheek and Ichigo's left cheek met the floor. There was a snicker from both Jinta and Soshi whether or not they knew it. Sumire watched in amusement and the impact was pretty thick to tear Enji's attention away from his doll. Aishira had suddenly and hurriedly spouted the strength of impact in all scientific units possible.

"What do you think you're doing, midget!?" Ichigo yelled at Rukia.  
"I didn't _beg_ for you to be my Vice-Captain!" she replied angrily and loudly.  
"And you didn't have anyone else lined-up after me either!" Ichigo shouted back.  
"Silence!" Rukia glared, motioning to hit him again as she pulled the front of his kimono, "If there's one thing you should learn, that's not talking back to superiors!"

And she was just thinking that he couldn't be so bad for a Vice-Captain! What on earth had hit her to make her think that way! Ichigo was so full of himself! Just because he had saved her in the past didn't mean she was such a weakling! And it didn't mean she was an idiot...! And it didn't mean she was an incapable pansy worthy of insults from her very own Vice-Captain! Her blood was boiling so hot she just wanted to hit Ichigo senseless until her anger died down!!

_Kurosaki Ichigo, you are such an idiot!_

"You are such a ruckus." Ishida shook his head.

"A-a-a-a-a-a-anou, Kuchiki-san..." Orihime said while looking at her fingers. Rukia released Ichigo and nodded at Orihime as a silent invitation for her to go on. Inoue swallowed hard and said in a high-pitched voice, "I-I-I-I'm sorry that I thought you and Kurosaki-kun... Were... Were... I'm very sorry! I thought you and Kurosaki-kun... were... with each other... You... and... and... and..."

"Inoue?" Rukia tilted her head, "Are you okay?"

The girl's eyes were forming spirals at this point and she was leaning on Ishida Uryuu beside her. The Quincy sighed and shook his head saying, "She thought the both of you were..."

"...Naked... Aaah..." Orihime said mindlessly, her head thrown back and facing the ceiling.

"NAKED!?" Rukia blasted, covering her self in surprise as Ichigo choked on his dumpling. Sumire had burst into laughter and was hitting the table as she held her stomach.

"Naked or nudity." Aishira began again much to Ichigo and Rukia's horror, "...Is the state of wearing no clothing. It is sometimes used to refer to wearing significantly less clothing than expected by the conventions of a particular culture and situation, and in particular exposing the bare skin or intimate parts..."

"Stop! Stop! STOP!" Rukia was holding on to her head and shaking it vigorously to rid of her self from the mental metaphors that were now forming in her head. It was very disturbing imagining her self naked with Ichigo and what was more disturbing than that was imagining _Ichigo_ naked with _her_! It was all so alarming just thinking about it and Ichigo had plugged his ears and muttered "ladidadida" in a strange pace. Soshi had now lost interest and disgustingly looked away as Aishira toned down from laughing. Ururu had fainted at this point and Jinta made it appear he was concerned about her so no one would notice that he almost exploded with a nosebleed.

"You are such _virgins_!" Aishira commented, wiping the tears of laughter that had formed in her eyes.

"It seems you have time to revel." Said a serious voice that was enough to make Rukia and Soshi snap into a serious, noble state. Sumire immediately regained composure from the awkward sitting she had been doing as a pink hue flushed over her cheeks. It surprised Uryuu at how she managed to use an eyebrow curler in just a few seconds.

Kenseikan nobility stepped into the room.

"N-Niisama. Konbanwa." Rukia bowed with Soshi, Sumire and Aishira who did the same. Byakuya glanced at Enji who was too busy with his doll to notice that a Kuchiki had entered the room.

"Rukia..." Byakuya asked his sister but was eyeing Ichigo, "Can you tell me what your Vice-Captain is trying to accomplish?"

"Ladidadilalalalaladidalidalila..." Ichigo's continuous distraction of his own brain earned most attention in the room. He was still plugging his ears and his eyes were tightly closed. Ishida looked awkwardly at Ichigo who was having a hard time getting rid of the pictures and sounds that were all coming from his head. Rukia gruned and pinched Ichigo's leg; nearly tearing that small spot on his skin off as he yelped in a high-pitched voice. Ichigo turned to yell at Rukia again but she was quick enough to make him eat her fist and he threw back head first on the tatami mat.

"Excuse him, Niisama." Rukia bowed embarrassingly as Soshi muttered, "Shameful" from the corner of his mouth.

"You didn't have to hit me!" Ichigo complained angrily as he rubbed the back of his head, "It's not my fault that Inoue came up with the naked-with-you idea...!"

"Eeek!" Orihime covered her mouth and hurriedly hid behind Ishida as she sent frightened glances at Byakuya who did not even acknowledge her.

"Guuuuurrrggghhhh!!!" Rukia lost half of her composure as goosebumps suddenly formed on her skin. Sumire signaled Ichigo to look in front of him where a man with kenseikan on his raven hair was staring strangely at him. It was a very disappointed older brother. Anyone could tell.

The Kuchiki clan leader seemed to demand for an explanation.

"Byakuya!" Ichigo said half-wincing as he rubbed his leg, "It's not what you think! It's just a grave misunderstanding!"  
"Oh?" came Byakuya's only reply.  
"Yes, 'coz Aishira had this giant apparatus—"  
"Maintenance Device With Reiatsu Checker and Spirit Particle Balancer Version 1.0." Aishira cut in seriously as if it were nothing.  
"Yeah, whatever, she had _that_ in my room and we have to move that giant thing and no one would lend a hand so—!"  
"I deem I have no time for your noisy lengthy explanations." Byakuya said without any change in expression.

"You listen to mem you—"

Again, Ichigo was face-to-face with the tatami mat except this time he wasn't violently slamming against it. Rukia had forced him to bow. Bow. In front of Byakuya.

No way!

"GARGH!" Ichigo forcibly sat up and grabbed Rukia's hand that was forcefully pushing his head down, "What do you think you're doing!"  
"Teaching you to respect your superior." Rukia said in her Kuchiki woodblock face, "Unhand me."  
"_My_ superior?" Ichigo said and pointed to Byakuya, "I agreed to be _your_ Vice-Captain, Rukia, not the Vice-Captain of every Captain in the Gotei 13!"  
"All Vice-Captains..." Rukia looked at Ichigo's hand that was on her wrist, "... Are obligated to show respect to all the other Captains of the other squads."

Ichigo opened his mouth to say something but she gave him a half-glare of a threat and said, "Unhand me."

"At least—"

"The Captain told you to unhand her." Enji's calm and soothing voice spoke in a threatening tone as he turned to look at Ichigo, "I suggest you do what the Captain says."

Ichigo glared at Enji who did not even bother to glare back. It was a very heavy stare, though, especially with those different-shaded blue eyes of his. There was thick silence between the two of them but Enji's calm features were not backing down from Ichigo's insulted scowl. Just who the hell did this Kawamura Enji think he was to tell him what to do? He had known Rukia longer than this subordinate did to begin with so he had no say in however he handled matters with her. Enji seemed to think otherwise though.

"It's okay, Enji. I can handle this myself." Rukia said, eyes still on Ichigo.

"Unhand the Captain." Enji told Ichigo instead.

Ichigo grunted and released Rukia who said nothing. The member from the First Squad quietly returned to looking back to his shamanic priestess doll.

"What an edgy squad this is..." Ishida commented as Orihime muttered something.

"If you have any time to revel and quarrel then I suggest getting over with the squad basics." Byakuya said and looked at Urahara who immediately replied, "Your sister has already asked to use the training room earlier! You can use it right now if you want to!" To which Byakuya replied with "Very good" instead of the expected "Thank you".

Urahara got up and led the way to the small door that provided entrance to his training grounds. Byakuya followed and Rukia got up as her squad followed suit.

"I suppose we can go home now!" Ishida said as he got up.

"I'm staying with them." Chad said as he walked towards the newly-formed squad, "If they're using the training grounds, I might be able to help in any training they're going to do."

Ishida wanted to slap his forehead. Chad and his literal interpretation of things!

"I want to help, too!" Orihime got up energetically, "I'm not very strong but I want to help, too!"

"The two of you, this is a _Shinigami_ meeting that we are not supposed to be concerned with!" Ishida explained, adjusting his glasses.

"But I'm concerned in helping Ku... Kuchiki-san!" Inoue's cheeks puffed.

"I will help Ichigo." Chad said flatly.

"Ishida-kun, it's okay if you don't want to help because they're Shinigami." Orihime said smiling brightly, "All though it might seem that you are selfish and conceited and inconsiderate and biased and discriminating, I'm sure all of us — especially Kuchiki-san — will understand how you don't want to lend a hand to these Shinigami who had done you no wrong so feel free to go home, Ishida-kun!"

Chad nodded.

"Let's go, Sado-kun!" Orihime told Chad who nodded again and both of them walked towards the small door as Inoue prattled off about being part of a task force.

Silence.

Ishida did not know if Orihime's words were on to something or she just said it out of honesty or for the hell. This girl obviously knew how to stir guilt in him. He grunted and adjusted his glasses before following Inoue and Chad in the training chambers.

He will seriously regret this afterward.

He was Quincy, damn it. What the hell was he doing making friends with Shinigami, attending their meetings and helping out in their training, if any! So what if he was selfish, conceited, inconsiderate, biased and discriminating against Shinigami! He was supposed to hate them in the first place for just _being_ Shinigami! He had no intentions of doing anything to help them. He shouldn't be here. He should just go home. Yes, that's it. He should just turn around and go home.

"Ishida-kun, you chose to come...!" Orihime's voice made Ishida stop whatever it was that he was thinking and she smiled at him rather sweetly and said, "Arigatou, Ishida-kun!"

Ah, turn around and go where? He was going anywhere? Ah, no, wasn't he staying here? Where was here again?

For whatever reason, Ishida's cheeks were feeling warm and he responded with a nod before adjusting his glasses again.

"A-a-anou!" Orihime raised her hand and all heads in the training room looked at her, "Ishida-kun and Sado-kun and my self would like to lend a hand in whatever it is you're doing!"

"Even the Quincy?" Yoruichi purred.  
"It was because Inoue-san asked." Ishida looked away since his face was still feeling rather warm.

"Ooooh, so you're willing to be part of my squad, eh, Ishida!?" Ichigo laughed with hands on his waist, "Good, very good!"

"Who said anything about being your subordinate, you orange mass of recklessness!" Ishida pointed angrily at Ichigo, "If there's anyone I'm helping, it's Kuchiki-san, not you! You can just die of your hair color for all I care!"

"You want to give it a go, four eyes!?" Ichigo took a challenging step towards Ishida. Urahara sighed and rammed the end of his cane at Ichigo's temple, making his human body fall back and be caught by Tessai as his Shingami form threw back. Ichigo got up and yelled at Urahara, "Why can't you _warn_ me before doing that!"

"Ichigo, if you have any more energy to waste, let's get this over with this instead." Rukia said and Ichigo grunted before walking towards her to stand on the spot to her right. It was annoying having to follow this midget around like his senior but Ichigo noticed that as soon as he started to walk in towards that Vice-Captain's spot beside the Captain, the rest of the Shinigami who were part of the new squad lined up properly. Wow, that was some response.

"Now that everyone's ready..." Rukia began, "Let's start the first official meeting of the X-Squad!"

And from the five people came a response that send more than just jitters down Rukia's spine.

"HAI, KUCHIKI-TAICHOU!!"

- End of Seat 5 -

* * *

Author: Ah, so there we have it! The chapter to familiarize you with several things regarding the OC and how everyone interacted with everyone else! I wonder if this helped any. –shifty eyes- I like Enji. Haha. He's a very interesting character and it takes time before I can properly use him in my stories because he's complicated. Let's put it at that. Again, I'm late. Sorry! Hopefully, I'll be able to show you their Zanpakutou in the next chapter! Yay! Any ideas are welcome via PM. Thank you for the reviews and for still sticking with me and my story. I love you guys!

Anyway, R&R! Cheerios, Cookies and a whole lot of Bankai love!


	7. Squad Basics

**Ore No Taichou Daisuki  
**_By Uchiha Xairylle_

**Seat 6 : Squad Basics**

**

* * *

**_Wow. She really IS such a small captain._

Ichigo was staring at Rukia from her right. It wasn't the first time he had stood beside her but this was the first time he actually took time to look at her. She barely reached his shoulders and her shoulders looked so small. Her limbs seemed to be so _thin_ under her loose Shinigami garb that he could swear that he could snap them with the slightest of _his_ effort.

But Rukia had authority in her air. She had command in her eyes and dignity in her stare. He had to hand it to her, none of the squad members talked back to her even once. Besides, those small arms had the strength of a rhino and those thin legs had the power of an ostrich. He knew. She often hit him. Ichigo sometimes felt she grew larger whenever she got angry. There were two types of her getting angry. The first one makes her look like a bad-ass in Bankai while the other one makes her look like an angry cat with hair and cheeks puffed.

"So…" Rukia was saying now in a tone that Ichigo would like to classify under Kuchiki mode, "…That is the importance and role of the X-Squad."

_Uh-oh, I think I missed that briefing._

"That being said, we have to keep some things at a faster pace than usual to reap results." Rukia continued, "First things first, I want you to properly introduce yourselves."

She looked at Ichigo who was not budging. He noticed and looked at her. She raised an eyebrow and he blinked and pointed to himself as if to ask, "Who, me?" Rukia nodded.

"Okay… So…" Ichigo began and cleared his throat,"I am your Vice-Captain, Kurosaki Ichigo."

_This feels sooooo awkwaaaaaaaard._

"Prior to this, I was Shinigami Representative."

Soshi raised his hand.

"What squad is that?"

"Kurosaki Ichigo." Aishira began as her eyes lit up and her head tilted left and right, "Human. Fifteen years old. Earned Shinigami powers through Kuchiki Rukia during her stay in the human world. Earned the title Shinigami Representative after his contribution to exposing Aizen Sousuke's true nature and plan."

"You're only fifteen!" Sumire exclaimed, "Goodness, you _poor thing_ died a young virgin!"  
"HEY!" Ichigo was about to reason out and explain when Kurotsuchi Mayuri's daughter cut in.  
"Negative." Aishira said again, "Kurosaki Ichigo is the human with a Shinigami soul known to Soul Society."

There was a long "Eeeeeeeh!" from Sumire and Soshi.

Ichigo's already permanent scowl intensified.

Soshi raised his hand again.

"What's a virgin?"  
"Soshi, if you would, please introduce yourself now." Rukia said as Ichigo's right eye twitch and even before Aishira could say anything.  
"Hai!" Soshi nodded heavily and stepped forward.

"Previously from the Sixth Squad, my name is Kuchiki Soshi, the only son of Kuchiki Yamato and Kuchiki Kaoru. I have three goals in life! Earn Bankai, become Captain and inherit the position of Kuchiki Clan Leader! That is all! Yoroshiku Onegai Shimasu!"

Soshi bowed and stepped back. Everyone except the squad members looked at Byakuya who only responded by fixing his scarf.

"Okay, next." Ichigo nodded at Sumire who took one step forward and raised her hand in an enthusiastic wave.

"Hello, everyone! My name is Murasaki Sumire, Rangiku Matsumoto's sister-by-heart! I used to belong to the Tenth Squad but was transferred here! My favorite color is purple. My favorite drink is sake. My dream is to be the bride of Kuchiki Byakuya-sama! Yoroshiku Onegai Shimaaaaaaaaaaasu!"

Again, all eyes turned to Byakuya. And again, he fixed his scarf.

"Ara. He's not even blushing." Inoue commented.  
"You're quite outspoken, I see." Rukia noted.  
"Yes, and I'm a heavy drinker, too!"

"I don't see what that has to do with the conversation." Ichigo shook his head and when he saw her open her mouth to say something, he immediately added, "Okay, okay, next."

"My name is Kurotsuchi Aishira and sent from the Twelfth Squad. Yoroshiku Onegai Shimasu."

Aishira spoke in such a monotonous manner that Ichigo felt that calling it monotonous wouldn't be enough.

"Are you older or younger than Nemu-san?" Rukia asked.  
"I am her prototype."

Rukia blinked.

"So does that make you older?"  
"Positive."

Rukia blinked and she and Ichigo looked at each other. Did it make Mayuri happy talking to people who answered like this. This mod soul experiment seriously needed a hobby.

"Do you have any dreams at least?" Sumire asked rather enthusiastically. Seriously, they should make her Public Relations Officer or something.

"I want to be a mermaid."

Silence.

"Mermaids are nice." Orihime smiled.  
"Yes, but she's… I mean…" Ishida rubbed his fingers against his forehead, "Never mind."  
"I think mermaids are nice, too." Chad nodded.  
"And I said never mind." Ishida sighed.

Ichigo scratched his head and looked at Rukia who nodded. He finally turned to Enji, paused and said, "You're the last one, pretty boy."

"Kawamura Enji. First squad. Yoroshiku Onegai Shimasu."

Ichigo raised an eyebrow.

"That's it?"

Enji stared at him as if he asked something uncalled for. Ichigo was hoping Sumire would ask why his eyes were of different shades but she wasn't saying anything.

"What's with the doll?" Ichigo asked instead that made Enji lift his doll. He moved her head so that it seemed to look at him and then at Ichigo and then at him again. In the background, Aishira was unable to answer the question processed, which resulted to her repeating the word "Error" around seven times before stating something about databases and data collection.

"Her name is Kana." Enji said, "She loves sunsets and takoyaki. She likes walking barefoot especially when walking in shallow rivers. She dislikes crying and being alone. Her favorite color is blue which is why she likes looking at the sky so much. Her favorite number is twenty-three. Her favorite hobby is singing. I wanted to get her a yukata but I couldn't find the one she likes."

"That is one busy doll." Sumire noted again. She never would not run out of things to say, would she? But everyone agreed so much that they chose not to say anything else. It was pretty interesting and, how do you put it… _awesome_… that the doll had more description than its master.

"Kawamura Enji…" Byakuya who had been silent the whole time suddenly spoke, "Where did you come up with that mouthful description for your doll?"

There was a short pause as all eyes turned shiftily between Byakuya and Enji. The younger Shinigami thoughtfully looked at his doll and told Byakuya, "I merely spoke the truth."

Ichigo's eyebrows furrowed as if to ask, "Did he skip the explanation?" But Byakuya didn't seem to mind or wonder and instead replied, "Sou ka?" To which Enji replied with a nod, "Sou."

Weird people understand each other or something? Ah, whatever. Ichigo shrugged and turned to Rukia. The smaller Shinigami acknowledged this and stepped forward to speak. Ichigo noted this new air of authority from Rukia and wondered if it had already been there all this time. And then he started wondering if he had that same aura of authority. Not that authority that reeked of power but that authority that commanded respect. It was pretty amazing how such a small girl like her could earn this kind of respect from four random Shinigami. Or was it really just the way Shinigami were trained?

"I am Kuchiki Rukia from the Kuchiki noble house. I used to hail from the Thirteenth Squad headed by Ukitake Jyuushirou-taichou. And from now on, I will be your Captain. And as your Captain, I want you to know that there are rules to be followed."

Byakuya nodded in agreement. Why wasn't that surprising?

"I will be brief and trust that I don't need to detail everything one by one." Rukia continued, "There are only three words you have to remember in our squad."

"Dedication. Resolve. Camaraderie."

"I want you to remember that although this is a test squad, everything must be taken _seriously_. I don't want to see you slacking off when we can't afford to. I don't want you ruining the integrity of this squad. I don't want you doing things half-assed. I don't want you trying to destroy each other. Selfish people have no place here."

"And if you ever, ever, _ever_ do something unreasonable that will have me called for by Yamamoto-soutaichou for scolding…" Rukia's eyes narrowed considerably sharp and scary, "So help me, I will _revive _Soukyoku and _punish you with it_."

There was a sudden hush and even Sumire, who wanted to speak about how sinister Rukia looked like, did not say anything. Byakuya looked content.

"I think it runs in the family." Yoruichi purred after glancing at Byakuya.

"Now…" Rukia spoke again, "We have to determine the level of authorities and subordination for each member. Each one will get responsibilities. Like we all know, the strongest people in the squad are usually at the top seats right after the Captain and the Vice-Captain. Since there are only six of us in this squad, we will only have a third and a fourth seat. In order to determine that, we will have a small and simple test."

"And I thought I was already third seat." Soshi pouted and sighed before regaining composure saying, "I will be third seat. I will be third seat. I will be third seat."  
"Awww, isn't that cute?" Sumire grinned. Soshi pouted and muttered something out of the corner of his mouth.  
"The closest to the Captain is third seat…" Enji murmured to his doll.  
"Negative." Aishira said in her flat voice, "The Vice-Captain is closer to the Captain."

There was a weird pause.

"You're right." Enji looked at Aishira and paused to think before raising the hand of his doll in an act to call for attention, "Excuse me, Taichou…"  
"Yes?"  
"Am I allowed to attempt for Vice-Captain?"

Urahara's fan was covering his lips but it was evident that he was smiling. Orihime was saying something like, "Oh dear" as Ishida smiled quietly while shaking his head. Rukia blinked and Ichigo's eyes widened. He did not know if it was an entirely innocent question or Enji was trying to tick him off. Either way, it ended up with Ichigo getting annoyed so what the hell did it matter now?

_Why the nerve of this person trying to ask for MY position in front of ME!_

"What do you think we're doing here, pretty boy?" Ichigo nodded at Enji, "Running for class rep?"

"Excuse me?" Enji asked and it was unclear whether he was responding positively or negatively since his expression wasn't changing.

"_I'm_ Vice-Captain." Ichigo pointed to himself with his thumb, "The closest you can ever get to Rukia is _third seat._"

Enji frowned. Ichigo frowned back.

"Ru – " Ichigo paused and looked at their four members before returning to look at Rukia, "_Captain_."

_Okay, that felt awkward._

"Yes?" Rukia replied to acknowledge him. She felt something warm running up her cheeks and something cold running down her spine upon hearing him call her "Captain".  
"Give me permission to determine who gets which seat." He said.

There was a low "ooh" from the group. Rukia paused to contemplate. What was he planning? She had already planned how to do this in advance and Ichigo here was trying to do it his way. Should she let him? After all, it was not like Ichigo to participate in what he would call "trivial" matters regarding the squad. But then again, isn't it a good thing that he volunteered to do something? Although skeptical, Rukia felt like she wanted to give him a chance.

"What do you have in mind?"

"It's as you said." Ichigo shrugged, "We're going to have _a little test._"

The orange haired Shinigami Representative slash fukutaichou turned to his three human nakama and said, "Oi, lend me a hand here, will you!"

"Ara! H-hai, Kurosaki-kun!" Inoue chirped and trotted towards Ichigo at the same time Chad started towards them. Ishida hesitated for a while and muttered, "Troublesome Shinigami." But after seeing that Urahara and Yoruichi were looking at him as if wondering why he wasn't following, the Quincy started towards the direction of Inoue and Chad as well.

"Listen up, squaddies!" Ichigo raised his head and put his hands on his waist as he looked at the four members of the X-Squad. And then pointing to his three friends, he said, "This is Inoue Orihime. She's my classmate and can block, heal and slice. This one is Yasutora Chad."

"It's Sado."

"Yes, right, Chad." Ichigo nodded, "He has the greatest arms… _Ever_. Don't you argue with me. You'll realize it's true."

"And this is…"

"I am Ishida Uryuu. I am a Quincy. I hate Shinigami. That's all you need to know."

"Who told you to butt in?" Ichigo scowled at the Quincy.  
"I don't like how you introduce people. It's so… un-introductory…"  
"Sorry, I'm not into showbiz." Ichigo shrugged and turned back to his squad, "So, where were we… Ah, yeah, that's right… The closest you can ever get to the Captain is Vice-Captain, which is the position I'm holding."

"So let's do it this way…" Ichigo looked at Rukia and upon seeing no trace of opposition from her, he continued, "There will be four people you have to get past, Inoue, Chad, Ishida and myself. We will be in one straight line and a good distance away from each other. The goal is to get past the person in front of you then proceed to the next. You get hit even once or get knocked back a good distance twice, you lose. You are allowed to travel forward, sideward, upward but never backward. The one to reach the closest to Rukia will be third seat and then of course the next one is fourth seat."

"I have to fight _in uniform_?" Uryuu complained to no one in particular.  
"What, you want a scarf or something?" Ichigo raised his eyebrow, "Coz I really have no time for your fashion crisis."  
"Hey, I don't even _belong_ to this squad!" the Quincy spoke with only his eyes moving towards Icihgo, "And I'm not even Shinigami to begin with!"  
"Well, nobody's asking you to stay, four-eyes!" Ichigo yelled, "Go home before your ass gets kicked!"  
"What did you say!" Ishida leaned forward.  
"You need glasses and a hearing aid now!" Ichigo grabbed the front of Ishida's uniform.

"A-a-a-a-anou, Kurosaki-kun, Ishida-kun, let's not fight…" Inoue said as she held her hands up in a quite doubtful attempt to stop the two males from challenging each other.

"You can let him go if he wants to, Vice-Captain." Sumire spoke and yawned, "It won't make any difference with or without him here."

Ishida paused. Ichigo snickered and Rukia rubbed her forehead in dismay.

"What was that?" the Quincy spoke without bothering to look at Sumire.  
"The Vice-Captain's right." She said lazily, "You _do_ need a hearing aid."  
"Say that after you get past me…" Ishida flicked his wrist as he faced her, "…Or die trying."

Sumire glared sharply and Ishida glared back. Ichigo chose to ignore them this time and spoke.

"Okay, now here's the catch…"

Ichigo allowed himself a small, smirkish but arrogant smile.

"You get past me, you're Vice-Captain."

Rukia's eyes widened. This… _idiot_!

"Is that all right with you…" he looked back at Rukia again, "…_Captain_?"

All eyes turned to Rukia who was looking at him sternly. Surely this was something he came up with just for the sake of telling the squad "I am the _law_ and you do not mess with the _law._" That and the fact that he was pissed off about Enji wanting to take his Vice-Captain position. Perhaps it was man's pride because Ichigo didn't show any interest in being Vice-Captain to begin with. She was actually planning to freeze them with Sode No Shirayuki and then see who breaks out first but this could be a good idea all together. But Ichigo should've at least considered if she wanted to risk having a new Vice-Captain or not…

Wait.

Ichigo was still looking at her and he was smile-smirking. He was looking pretty sure. Come to think of it, this could help her see how her subordinates fared in battle.

"Good enough for me. Go ahead."

"Question." Enji raised the hand of his doll again, "Are we allowed to use any method to get past whoever?"

"For as long as you don't severely injure or eventually kill anyone." Ichigo replied, "Does that answer your question?"

"So we're allowed to use whatever method, too…" Chad rubbed his chin, "I see. So just don't let them get past us."

"I see… I see…" Inoue hit her palm with her fist in determination, "Not get past us! I get it now!"

Soshi raised an eyebrow. Did she just get the concept _now_?

"So does everyone understand now!" Ichigo raised his voice.

"HAI!"

"Great." Ichigo pulled out Zangetsu, "Let's do this!"

- End of Seat 6 -

* * *

AN: Wow… Years between updates. A lot of sutff happened in between. I wonder if anyone still reads my work. Ah, well, I've a lot of catching up to do. I'm not sure if I can update as fast as I did before. Sorry to disappoint. And _finally_ technology of my own to lug around! I can write in various places now! Yay for my laptop! –dances– Thanks for all the messages. It's been very heart-warming. Plus thanks to my little online sisters Jaydz and Mari-chan for supporting me the whole day as I write this down. Haha!

So here's me hoping that you read and review.

Cheerios, cookies and a whole lot of Bankai love!


	8. Underestimation

**Ore No Taichou Daisuki (I Love My Captain)**  
_by Uchiha Xairylle_

**Seat 7: Underestimation**

**

* * *

**The Vice-Captain is the closest you can ever get to Captain.

And Ichigo was determined to prove them wrong.

Inoue Orihime was first and around a hundred meters away was Chad followed by Ishida then Ichigo and finally Rukia. Ichigo only became a competitive spirit when provoked and this was one of those instances. Kawamura Enji didn't seem like he was as rough and loud as Renji but he seemed to be as annoying. At least that's how Ichigo saw him. He was especially ticked off when he handed Rukia that doll and telling her, "Taichou, please hold her. It would make reaching my goal easier."

That was so, so, so, so uncalled for.

What's even more annoying is Rukia actually took the doll. Ichigo looked back and saw her holding it in her arms. She was even discreetly playing with its arm.

_You stupid midget. Don't you even care how you look like?_

Ichigo shook his head and told himself to focus on the task at hand. He'd be unstoppable when he's had his resolve solid.

_The closest you can ever get to Rukia is THIRD SEAT. Don't you DARE underestimate me._

"Okaaaaay, let's begin now!" Urahara waved with his fan, "I'll be referee!"

Kuchiki Soshi stepped up looking rather cool instead of nervous. He did a bit of stretching before taking a deep breath.

"Yoroshiku Onegai Shimasu!" Inoue greeted and Soshi bowed back and greeted the same.

"You know, I don't want to hurt you." Soshi scratched his head.  
"And I don't want to hurt you, too." Inoue pouted a sad pout, "But I really can't let you pass just like that. Kurosaki-kun will hate me…! And –"

Whatever Inoue was supposed to say didn't come and perhaps didn't matter. Soshi disappeared as a reply and no sooner had Orihime gasped did a heavy impact came about way behind her. Chad had dashed towards a distance to his right where Soshi seemed to have kicked off his Giant's Right Arm and towards the sky. His agility was commendable for a Shinigami of his age. Soshi stabilized himself in mid-air, seemingly twisting to reach for his sword.

"Araaaaaa, that's not fair!" Inoue pouted and complained, "He tricked meeeeeeee!"  
"Didn't he say he didn't want to hurt you, Inoue-san?" Urahara told her but was looking at Soshi who was drawing his sword as he descended quite rapidly towards Chad.

"Shed!" Soshi announced with his angry hazel eyes, "Gin Aki!"

And true enough, as soon as he spoke, Soshi's zanpakutou seemed to shed bits of its metal off itself. Those bits, however, instead of travelling with the wind and trailing behind Soshi as he descended, did something else. It travelled with immense speed towards Chad who shielded with his Giant's Right Arm. Gin Aki's light and shiny clay-like flakes then stick itself all over Chad's large arm.

"What?"

And in less than a second, they detonated. There were consecutive explosions on Chad's armored left arm and he wavered quite unstably for a while from the impact. But the giant kept his arm up. Soshi came landing on said arm afterwards with an orange sword coming down on Chad's defensive arm.

"Taaaaake thiiiiis!"

Small sparks flew as Gin Aki's blade hit the large arm-shield but there was no blood. Soshi did not look a single bit fazed but instead lifted his sword and hit Chad again and again and again… But there still was no blood or damage.

What effort was this?

"Oho?" Urahara raised his eyebrows in interest.

It was faint but there seemed to be smoke coming out of each strike.

"Friction?" Ichigo said mindlessly.  
"Reiatsu…" Ishida commented and then realized, "Chad's reiatsu seems to be… _evaporating_!"

Evaporating? Ichigo's eyes widened and looked at the young Kuchiki boy hacking away.

"Evaporating at a rather rapid pace." Rukia added.

The effects of what Soshi was doing were slowly being felt by his opponent. Losing no time, Chad grunted and grabbed Soshi by the leg. With a loud, "Sorry", the dark-skinned giant hurled the boy towards the ground. Most younger Shinigami would've been taken aback and let out a yelp, dropping their guard but the Kuchiki boy refused to go down, "Hadou 33!"

Chad's eyes widened. He had no idea what that meant except for it being a blast.

"Soukatsui!"

_Here it comes!_

A big blue ball of reiatsu was supposed to come out of Soshi's hand but no. The seemingly evaporated reiatsu smoke from Chad turned into a big blue ball and hurled itself towards Soshi's large opponent. He immediately released Soshi to deflect the projectile with his offensive hand and as soon as the young Shinigami's feet touched ground, he dashed to Shunpo away.

_Fast!_

"So even though he can't absorb the reiatsu…" Urahara began as he sat on a giant rock, "He is able to put it to good use."  
"Not bad for a zanpakutou named Silver Autumn." Yoruichi commented as leapt and sat beside Urahara. She turned her view towards Byakuya who was slightly smiling contentedly.

"He _is_ Kuchiki after all."

But there was no time to revel as Chad grabbed Soshi by the left leg and threw him far back. Urahara declared this as his first knock back. The Shinigami boy wanted to reason that it wasn't actually a knock back but a throw back but what did it matter now? Soshi tumbled but eventually landed on two feet and skidded as he used his sword to stop himself from skidding back any further. He came to quite a violent stop and looked up only to see Inoue Orihime in front of him.

"WHA –!"

He was back where he started!

The Kuchiki boy lost no time and got up but as soon as he was able to begin Shunpo, Orihime had already set up her tri-link shield.

"Santen Kesshun! I reject!"

A triangular shield appeared and out of thin air appeared Soshi whose shunpo was halted by the Shun Shun Rikka. Soshi bounced off the shield and tumbled a good distance away from Orihime.

"Second knock back!" Urahara announced. Soshi grunted and then groaned lying on the hard, rocky ground.

"Aaaawww!" the boy complained, "I wanted to be third seat!"

He lay there muttering for a few more moments before doing a Chinese get-up. And with a serious Kuchiki face, he pointed at Orihime, "You must _not_ let them pass, okay!"

Surprised, Inoue merely nodded with a short, "H-hai…!"

Soshi nodded contentedly and started to walk away in admittance of the result of his test. Ichigo smiled. At least the boy was a good sport. Byakuya should learn a thing or two from his nephew and the orange-haired Shinigami looked at the noble leader who looked rather content. Rukia looked at her little nephew who was walking towards the other three members of the squad. The boy was probably embarrassed because if he felt like he did a good job, he would approach his uncle and tell him about it even if his uncle had already seen it. But this was okay. Her nephew still was young after all.

"Next up!" Urahara announced and looked at Aishira who stepped forward. Soshi chose to lie with limbs spread and flat on his back between Sumire and Enji. Sumire began talking again and Enji was merely watching the transpiring events.

"Are you ready?" was Urahara's question.  
"Yes." Was Aishira's simple answer.  
"Begin!"

"Santen Kesshuuuuun!" Inoue immediately announced, "I reject!"

A large triangular shield appeared between Inoue and Aishira – even larger than the first tri-link shield. Perhaps Inoue was somewhat annoyed that Soshi got the better of her in the first round. The caramel-haired girl quietly looked at the experimental mod-soul prototype as she reached out towards the shield and tapped it with her finger. Seeing no harm, Aishira put her right palm flat on the tri-link shield. Suddenly, her eyes grew wide and then they glowed white and she began muttering words too quickly for anyone to understand. Her hand started glowing and weird patterns started to trace themselves on her palm.

"Wh-wh-what's going on!" Orihime gasped rather disturbed, "Should we help her or something?"  
"Maybe it's cardiac arrest?" Chad commented looking rather concerned but interested.  
"Cardiac Arrest!" Inoue exclaimed in disbelief but insisted on putting up her shield.

And then the light in Aishira's eyes died down like a light slowly being turned off. No one was speaking.

"Complete." Aishira stated.  
"Eh?" Inoue blinked.

"Shield rejects anything coming in front of or behind its space." Aishira said as she slowly drew her sword, "However the consistency of the particle compaction is imbalanced by 10% but also constantly changes per second as the particles travel in an undefined pace across the rejection space."

Ichigo was ready to curse. What the hell was that? Rukia nodded accordingly. So Mayuri built her for data collection, analysis and storage. She had taken in information about the shield the moment she touched it and analyzed how it works. The problem was the time. Not all enemies would wait for her to finish loading up her database before attacking. Had it been Zaraki Kenpachi in front, he would have proceeded to slice her arm off as soon as she extended it.

"Lash…" Aishira held up her dagger-looking zanpakutou, "Kinzoku Mizuhime."

Kinzoku Mizuhime.

Metal Water Princess.

What was that supposed to mean?

Aishira's blade then turned into a very long trident and Inoue looked cautiously at the water that started pooling at Aishira's feet. The pool started growing and then water shot up and surrounded Aishira like a floating sash. Inoue backed a few steps in caution.

"Eureka." Aishira said her water sash shot at Orihime who blocked with her tri-link shield. With her enemy simply occupied by that, the quiet Kurotsuchi experiment closed her eyes, breathed in and disappeared in a flash step. Inoue was incredibly slow as compared to Shinigami shunpo so it took little effort for Aishira to go past her. Inoue wailed in disappointment and annoyance that two Shinigami went past her with that small effort.

Aishira dashed towards Chad who blocked her charging trident with his Giant's Left Arm. Aishira's eyes glowed that weird glow again and she started muttering words too fast for anyone to understand. But Chad decided not to wait and grabbed Aishira's trident's long handle. The water sash left Orihime and charged towards Chad, drenching his left arm. Aishira jumped away as the water on Chad's body seemed to have immediately dried. Water pooled on Aishira's feet again as she looked apathetically at the dark-skinned Mexican in front of her. Chad wondered what she was waiting for until he felt his arm go numb. He sank to one knee and his defensive arm reverted back to normal state in an attempt to nullify or weaken the effect of Aishira's water.

The Shinigami girl lost no time and attempted to Shunpo past Chad but the dark giant would not let her. He extended his offensive armored arm and swung it in a clothesline wrestling move successfully hitting her neck and slamming her hard on the ground. Aishira's limbs flailed forward as she fell backward and the impact echoed as the debris on the ground shook disturbed. Orihime shrieked. Soshi yelped in surprise as if feeling the pain of the impact. Sumire had covered her mouth in surprise and wore her eyes wide. Chad stepped back and lowered his stance just in case she tried to get back up but Urahara acknowledged the hit.

"Hit taken!" the storekeeper announced.

Rukia, Ichigo, Ishida and Inoue had wide eyes and open mouths.

What had just happened?

"He… He clothesline-d a _girl_…" Ichigo said in disbelief, "He clothesline-d a _girl_…! It's a girl! He did that to a _girl_! A _girl_! A _GIRL_!"  
"Yes, it's a girl. You've already made your point now, Kurosaki." Ishida said but was still looking with disbelief at Chad.  
"Such violence." Rukia commented mindlessly as she covered the eyes of Enji's doll, "Maybe it's true love?"  
"True love?" Ichigo raised his eyebrow at Rukia, "How the _hell_ do you classify violence as true love?"  
"That's strange. I don't remember talking to you." Rukia shot back at him.  
"Oh, then were you talking to the doll?"  
"Maybe I was!"  
"Midget!"  
"Dandelion head!"

Meanwhile, Aishira lay motionless for a while as her Zanpakutou reverted back to normal. Chad started towards her and reached out his hand to help her get up.

"Sorry." Chad muttered.

Aishira was muttering something again and was moving her head rather weirdly. Chad's eyes widened for a while, worried that he might have hit her too hard. Aishira closed her eyes tight and in a while reopened them again but did not get up.

"A-are you okay?" Chad managed to ask, still offering his hand to help her up.  
"I am in good quality." Aishira replied and sat up, "I have finished rebooting."  
"I… I see." He said again, offering his large hand again. Aishira obliged and allowed him to help her up. She dusted her self and bowed at Chad and then at Orihime before starting towards her four squad mates.

Sumire got up and patted Aishira on the shoulder.

"Okay!" the purple-haired girl stretched, "My turn!"  
"Oh, how lively!" Urahara greeted her as he fanned himself.  
"Oh, all beautiful women are, thank you!" she said as she walked, drawing her sword. Sumire combed her hair with the fingers of her free hand and looked smilingly at Inoue who already had her tri-link shield up.

"Why so serious, hunny?" Sumire tilted her head, "Don't worry, this'll be over in a sec."

"Overwhelm And Roar!" Sumire yelled in a mighty call, "Toraneko!"

The older woman raised her sword but when she brought it down, it was already a giant black and red two-headed axe. It's handle was as around five to six feet long and its axe head spanned three feet wide. The flat surface of its head had various carvings of who-knows-what. The weapon looked very heavy but Sumire swung it with little effort.

"Eeeeeeeeh!" Orihime squeaked in surprise.

"Get out of my waaaaaay!" Sumire yelled before swinging up the axe and bringing it down hard on the ground again. A large reiatsu burst from the impact made a trail towards Orihime and left a large impressive crack in its wake. The ginger-haired girl blocked with her tri-link shield but it was futile. Inoue's will was weakened by surprise and so was her broke again causing Chad to come to her aid and block with his arm. The reiatsu burst diminished but Sumire was not one to wait long.

" Bakudou 61! Luminous Prison Of Six Bars!"

Six bar-like lights surrounded Chad and halted him from moving.

"Sado-kun!"

And then again.

"Bakudou 61! Luminous Prison Of Six Bars!"

And another set of six bar-lights surrounded Inoue this time.

"I really don't want to hurt you!" Sumire told Chad and Inoue before dashing away towards Ishida's direction. The Quincy wasn't one to wait and immediately fired one arrow after the other using his normal Quincy bow. The female Shinigami in turn was not backing down as she deflected each arrow with her axe.

_His aim is amazing. That's a Quincy, all right._

Sumire kicked off from the ground and raised her axe again to swing it down on Ishida but when she looked, he was no longer there.

"Looking for something?" Ishida reappeared behind her. Sumire grunted, disappeared and reappeared on the ground. In less than a second, Ishida was already beside her and swung Seele Schneider, which she blocked with her axe. Ishida and Sumire pushed against each other's weapons in a battle for strength, which Ishida would probably lose size-wise. But it didn't matter since Sumire formed a fist and punched Ishida in the face. The Quincy dodged and both of them jumped back from each other and resumed fighting stance.

"I hate Shinigami." Ishida said lowly and changed back to his normal Quincy bow and arrow stand.  
"It's not like I like you." Sumire snickered.

"Bitch." Was Ishida's pissed-off reply and in a split second, he released around a hundred consecutive arrows, which Sumire either parried or blocked. It was amazing how she was able to move that monstrously large axe as if it were paper. She eventually got fed up with just _standing there _and lowered her stance, screamed a loud battle cry and swung her axe diagonally downwards. From that movement, a large but sharp boomerang-like blade of wind sped towards Ishida. He dodged it without effort but when he looked, she was not there anymore.

"Looking for something?" she appeared.

The Quincy did not answer and in a split second reverted to Seele Schinder. He brought it up in a slash as he twisted towards her. Sumire blocked with Toraneko but the impact never came. Ishida was no longer in front of her but was actually behind her, holding Seele Schneider towards her neck.

"Considered as hit taken!" Urahara announced.  
"What!" Sumire complained, "But I…!"  
"Murasaki-san, please look below you."

Sumire looked down and saw a bluish web formed at her feet. She furrowed her eyebrows at this and glared at the Quincy.

"If you move to make Ishida-kun _not happy_…" Urahara said, "That web is most likely to ensnare you faster than you think it could."

Sumire glared at Ishida one last time before reverting her Shikai back to sealed state. Ishida straightened and called off all his Quincy powers before adjusting his glasses and saying, "I was being careful not to kill you."

"Tsch, and you think _that_ was my full effort to kill you?" Sumire shrugged and walked past him, "If the odds were different, the result would've varied as well."

"I think not." Ishida said as he walked away, "That wasn't even my Ginrei Kojaku bow."  
"And that wasn't Toraneko's full capacity."  
"I really don't think that'd make any difference."  
"You want me to kill you _now_, megane?" Sumire shrieked at him and lifted her sword, "Overwhelm And Roar!"

But nothing came after that because a hand held Sumire's already raised arm. The violet-haired female Shinigami gasped and looked beside her and found a pair of different-shaded blue eyes looking at her. She stopped with wide eyes and the Quincy looked back in a bit of disbelief. Enji shook his head and slowly put Sumire's hand down. Urahara smiled again as he fanned himself and Ichigo crossed his arms.

_Pretty fast._

"What's _your_ problem?" Sumire broke the silence.  
"My turn." Enji spoke calmly.

Silence.

"Anooou, minna-saaaaaan!" Urahara waved with his hands in the air, "If you don't mind, let's get this over wiiiiiiiiiiiith!"

- End of Seat 7 -

* * *

AN: Made this on an empty stomach. I don't know anymoooore. Anyway, I had fun thinking up Zanpakutou. Aishira's was the hardest because I _really_ wanted her to have water. Now it's the showdown between Enji from the first squad and everyone else!

But I should eat first.

Do Review!

Cheerios, Cookies and a whole lot of Bankai Love!


	9. Here Comes The Brat

**Ore No Taichou Daisuki (I Love My Captain)**  
_by Uchiha Xairylle_

**Seat 8 : Here Comes The Brat**

**

* * *

**

The last part of the test was a bit delayed. Urahara suggested they let Tessai have a "look-see" at Chad and Inoue since they looked considerably tired from the first three rounds. It wouldn't be fair if Enji would face them like that. The rest seemed to agree and Ichigo did, too except he was pretty decided on making Enji understand that he was Vice-Captain. And _why_.

Ichigo had chosen not to speak much to Rukia because that doll was pissing him off. For whatever reason, it just did. And now that everyone had rested, they proceeded to go to their proper positions. Urahara resumed his throne on the large chunk of rock and beside him was Yoruichi. Byakuya had resorted to watching alone while the other members of the squad sat below the large rock Urahara was sitting on. Aishira was sitting ceremoniously and Soshi was sitting with his legs spread as he leaned back with two arms flat on the ground. Sumire was already standing with crossed arms. Ichigo was just itching for Enji to reach him. He must admit he'd somewhat be disappointed if that punk failed to go past Ishida.

The other Shinigami felt Enji was, in a way, somewhat better than the others probably because he was from the First Squad. And that meant he was under Yamamoto Genryuusai Shigekuni. Now if there's anything people had to know about the First Squad, it was either the members were old or good. And by good, it meant Yamamoto went through the trouble of picking them during graduation. Because of this, the First Squad isn't comprised of a lot of members. It was also probably because Yamamoto-soutaichou did not want to supervise a hell lot of people in his squad.

So Kawamura Enji from the First Squad was not old so therefore he must be good. That or it's an accident or nepotism behind his stay in the First Squad.

"Is everyone ready?" Urahara asked.

There was a "Haaaaaaaai" from Inoue and a nod from everyone else.

Ichigo already had Zangetsu unhitched. Uryuu already had his webbed Ginrei Kojaku bow. Everyone expected quite a lot from Enji judging by how he conducted himself. Rukia was holding his doll, which she seemed to have accustomed herself to already. It was something Ichigo would probably dislike as much as Kon. Maybe he really just wasn't a doll-and-stuff-toys person.

Ichigo could now see Enji standing in front of Inoue.

_The closest you can ever get to Captain…_

"Onegai Shimasu." Enji bowed at Orihime.  
"O-Onegai Shimasu." Orihime replied cautiously.

A few seconds after this exchange, Enji began to squat.

"Are you ready?"

Inoue did not answer.

Taking that as a yes, Enji immediately announced, "Bakudou 61! Luminous Prison of Six Bars!"

To everyone's surprise, six bar-lights came out of nowhere and bound not only Orihime but also Chad. At the same time, Enji had dashed forward.

"Fast cast!" Sumire said as Soshi got up from his previously lazy sitting position.

_Oh no, you don't_.

"UOOAAARGH!" Chad broke out of the Prison Bars and immediately blasted Enji with El Directo. The male Shinigami dodged by leaping up in the air.

Ishida looked up at the dark-haired Shinigami who was entering his territory. The Quincy lifted his web-like bow and calmly shot a thousand arrows at the Shinigami who was holding his still-sheathed sword in mid-air.

"Hadou 64!" Enji announced again with a wave of his hand as he plunged towards Uryuu, "Madness Of The Tiger's Tears!"

Enji outstretched both of his hands and a thousand drop-like projectiles shot towards Uryuu and met most of his arrows. Enji evaded the others with his Shunpo and blocked what was left with his sealed zanpakutou. The Shinigami landed. The Quincy stopped shooting for a while.

_Do you think you can fight me without releasing your Zanpakutou?_

"Bakudou – "

"A silver rod strikes the five-fingered stone bed!" Ishida interrupted as he used a Quincy Silver Tube, "Quintuple Restraining Frames!"

A pentacle symbol immediately formed itself right behind Enji and threatened to envelope him but he was quick enough to disperse it using Hadou 4: White Lightning. The Shinigami steadied himself on the ground as his movement highly disturbed the dust around him. The Quincy was no longer where he was.

True enough, Ishida reappeared beside Enji. Seele Schneider was brought down and Enji pulled out his Zanpakutou just in time to block.

"Hadou 33! Soukatsui!"  
"Tokukonki!"

It happened pretty fast. Enji shot with the Way of Destruction and Uryuu retaliated with his Quincy Protective Light Wall. Urahara felt kind of impressed that they were slowly taking this seriously as if a battle for pride.

Seele Schneider met Enji's zanpakutou again. And then again. And then again. Sparks flew. Another clash and Ishida pushed against him. Enji pushed back. Ishida was getting annoyed that the Shinigami still wasn't releasing. Grunting, he slightly pulled back only around an arms breadth. In an instant, Seele Schneider was Ginrei Kojaku and Ishida fired a condensed bow at Enji.

"Such a short range!" Rukia exclaimed, "Ishida!"  
"Your pop idol's going to be fine." Ichigo waved at Rukia as he leaned at Zangetsu.

True.

The Shinigami bent back so low Ichigo swore he was driving the Matrix move to shame. The Quincy reverted to Seele Schneider and aimed to stab Enji by the shoulder.

"Turn into the sun!" came Enji's awaited release, "Ryu!"

Ichigo's expression changed. Ryu? That was it? Such a short and common name!

But the Zanpakutou with a short and common name seemed to have done exactly what it was commanded to do. It burst into flames, driving Ishida away to a safe distance. Enji tumbled and landed back on two feet. His sword was burning and its guard had changed into a spiral. There was an inscription of Kanji on his sword but Ichigo could not see what it was.

"Fancy." The Quincy looked at Enji's sword.

The Shinigami nodded in acknowledgement. Ishida pulled out his Ginrei Kojaku and started firing while doing Hirenkyakuy around Enji. The Shinigami lowered his stance and moved in the same circular direction as Uryuu was to deflect his arrows. Enji's footwork was calm but solid and made him look like he was dancing. The flames danced from his sword and with his movement, made it look like a fire dance display.

"Pretty." Inoue commented.  
"Yes…" Chad nodded.

The Quincy stopped his barrage of attacks and in an Hirenkyaku, his Seele Schneider met Enji's Ryu. The Shinigami swung his leg to kick the Quincy who dodged.

"Chase!" Enji said again.

_A second release command?_

"Ryu!"

It wasn't the first time any of them had met a Shinigami with two release commands. Even Urahara had two release commands but they had to admit, you don't come across with such a person everyday.

Enji's blade turned so white and thin that it was transparent. In one flash step he was gone and Ishida could not chase.

Had he gone faster?

It didn't matter. He was gone now.

_Here comes the brat!_

"Uooorryyaaa!" Ichigo disappeared and met Enji in a loud clash of swords.  
"Ichigo!" Rukia managed to say.

Enji and Ichigo pushed their swords against each other. Enji's already thin blade looked even thinner as it met Ichigo's cleaver-like Zangetsu.

"Geeeeetsuga…"

"Turn into the sun!"

"Tenshou!"

"Ryu!"

A black projectile met angry red flames but those responsible for this did not wait to see what was going to happen. Both of them kicked off the ground and speared towards the sky as if knowing they were going to meet there again.

"Bakdou –!"  
"Bakudou _this_!" Ichigo punched Enji in the face but the other Shinigami dodged. Both of them began to plummet downwards at a rapid pace.

"Chase, Ryu!"

And again he was gone but Ichigo was able to grab him by the left arm.

"You're not going anywheeeeere!"

"Oh, I see now." Yoruichi purred, "He doesn't go faster."

"He doesn't?" Sumire asked.

"He just travels a greater distance than usual. Plus something seems to block his spiritual presence so it becomes very faint as he moves and it's hard to tell where he's going."  
"As if being aided by the wind, eh?" Urahara held onto his hat and fixed it.  
"You could say that."

Ichigo who had grabbed Enji was now swinging him towards the ground. Enji then blasted the ground with a kidou projectile to propel him away from the ground. He then dashed towards Ichigo's left to regroup but the orange-haired Shinigami chose to follow.

_You're not going anywhere!_

In an instant they were running side-by-side and Ichigo snickered upon finally seeing a change of expression in Enji's eyes. The black-haired subordinate skidded to a stop and Ichigo did the same except he had to plunge Zangetsu on the ground to stop. Enji dashed for Rukia's direction but suddenly found Ichigo in front of him.

_The closest you can ever get to Captain…_

Enji swung Ryu against Ichigo who averted it with Zangetsu. Enji then proceeded to grab Ichigo by the head.

"Ichigo!"

Rukia's voice seemed to have made its way in the middle of the fight. Enji looked up and beyond Ichigo's left shoulder he could see _Kuchiki-taichou_ holding his doll Kana. She had moved a step forward. Kana was in Rukia's left hand and the other was holding on to the handle of her sword as if to draw. Enji's eyes widened, losing a fragment of his focus.

That was all the opening Ichigo needed.

Ichigo grabbed for Enji's face but he was too absorbed in staring at Rukia to even move.

_Hisana…!_

"You overconfident puuuuuuuuunk!" Ichigo yelled in between his grit teeth as he dragged Enji's head towards the ground, "The closest you can _ever_ get to Rukia…"

_The closest I can get to the Captain…_

"…IS THIRD SEAT!"

Enji's head hit the ground with a loud crash. The rocks, dust and other debris covered his swaying vision of Rukia.

_Hisana…!_

"GET OFF ME!" Enji hollered in an angry snap of his eyes. Urahara had already declared Enji taking a hit but it didn't seem to matter.

"CONSUME ALL OF LIGHT AND DARKNESS!" Enji declared and raised his sword. An already pissed off Ichigo motioned to swing another Getsuga Tenshou.

"ENOUGH!" Rukia hollered, coming in between them just in time before Ichigo could bring down his sword and before Enji could release another Shikai. The small Kuchiki Captain was above Enji and below Ichigo. Her sword was in one hand and the doll was in the other. Inoue's tri-link shield had already formed between Ichigo and Rukia just in time as well. Both men stopped but it was only Enji whose face calmed down upon seeing Rukia holding Kana. It was then that both Enji and Ichigo realized that everyone who was watching was closing in on them to stop the final clash. It was only Byakuya who did not move and Rukia who made it in time. Even Aishira had dashed forward to do something.

"I didn't permit you to kill each other!" Rukia glared at both of them angrily, "You _idiots_!"

Ichigo straightened and put Zangetsu down. Rukia straightened as well.

"Hey." Ichigo turned towards Enji and offered him his hand to help him up. Enji hesitated for a while but eventually took the offer. There was a moment of silence as Enji got up and there were some sighs of relief from a few. Soshi was so stunned that even his hair seemed to have disheveled itself.

"I guess that _finally_ settles it." Urahara said in a happy voice in an attempt to change the mood.

"Yes, it does." Rukia agreed, sheathing her sword and facing the others, "I would like to thank everyone for participating but right now, let me officially announce X-Squad's first and second seat, Kawamura Enji and Murasaki Sumire!"

"Yaaay!" Orihime chorused with Urahara and both of them as well as Chad and Aishira began to clap. Soshi pouted for a while before clapping as well. Sumire kept on laughing and proceeded to mess up Ishida's hair much to the Quincy's dismay. Ichigo shook his head, not wanting to have anything to do with the ruckus and at the corner of his eye saw Rukia returning Enji's doll.

"Here. I took good care of her." Rukia carefully and slowly handed Kana to Enji.  
"Arigatou, Taichou." Enji took back his doll and started brushing her hair with his palm.

"Rukia-bachaaaaaaan!" Soshi's complaining voice cut whatever conversation was about to transpire between Enji and Rukia. The Kuchiki nephew was in between Aishira's arm in what seemed to be a headlock.

"Didn't I just tell you I didn't give you permission to kill each other?" Rukia scratched her head as she approached them.  
"Ah, gomen, gomen, taaaaaaichoooooou!"

Ichigo sighed heavily, a bit glad it was all done and over with.

He caught a glimpse of the adjutant badge on his arm.

_Her Vice-Captain, huh…_

- End of Seat 8 -

* * *

AN: Yaaaay! Finished! Mmm, I kind of wanted to use more of Enji's Zanpakutou but I feared it would reveal too much. And yes, he did say Hisana. Twice even. In his head. And that's not a typo. Gawd I missed writing and meeting deadlines. My hands seem to be shaky. Either I've gotten old or I haven't eaten properly. I think both. -faints-

Cheerios, Cookies and a whole lot of Bankai love!

Read and Review!


	10. Tadaima

**Ore No Taichou Daisuki (I Love My Captain)**  
_by Uchiha Xairylle_

**Seat 9 : Tadaima**

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Ooowwww…

Ichigo could hear his mind voice.

Why was everything dark?

Oh, right his eyes were closed.

Wait, why were his eyes closed?

"Ichigo?"

"Ooowwww…"

But he actually meant to say "Rukia".

"Good, you're waking up!"

"Ooowwww…"

But he actually meant to say "My eyes hurt."

"Ichigo, I have with me the medic assigned to our squad. Her name is Fujiwara Mari." Rukia was saying now, "I called for her seeing as I have _no idea_ what your father did to you this time."  
"My name is Fujiwara Mari! Yoroshiku onegai shimasu, Kurosaki-fukutaichou!"

Woah. There was a weird feeling being addressed as "fukutaichou".

"Ooowwww..."

Was his only reply, which was to be translated as, "I don't caaare."

The rest of the squad members returned to Sereitei after the meeting had concluded. A temporary headquarters for them would be arranged after Byakuya had made his report to the Captain-Commander. Rukia, on the other hand, would remain in the living world with, of course, her Vice-Captain. That lot was pretty much easy for Ichigo to understand.

"_Even though you lack experience and knowledge regarding the Gotei 13 and its workings..." Byakuya said in their "officers' meeting" in one of the rooms in Urahara's place as the rest of the squad waited in a different room, "...You are still Rukia's Vice-Captain." _

_Not that it was his choice to begin with. _

"_And as such, you have to make up for your aforementioned flaws."_

"_Excuse me?" Ichigo raised an eyebrow at Byakuya who was sitting on the other end of the long but short table, "Well, I'm SORRY, I didn't know Gotei 13 history was supposed to be common knowledge because last time I checked, I WASN'T FROM YOUR WORLD TO BEGIN WITH!"_

"_Ichigo." Rukia managed to mutter out of the corner of her mouth and between her grit teeth. How embarrassing. Talking back during a meeting! She knew Ichigo was not so formal with manners but he was particularly edgy today. Perhaps it's the same as when he first became Shinigami? He was totally against it but nevertheless gave in. Ah, her thoughts were straying off from the matter at hand. She should really focus at what her Niisama was saying._

"_And as your Captain and immediate superior..." Byakuya continued, totally ignoring whatever Ichigo had to think or say, "...it is Rukia's job to train you."_

"_Starting from today..." Byakuya cut in to interrupt as soon as Ichigo looked like he was going to open his mouth and say something again, "You are to study the workings of the Gotei 13, protocols, rules regulations and standard operating procedures."_

_Great. As if schoolwork was not enough._

Earlier today, Byakuya had _nobly_ ranted off about how his little sister told him of a project and exam review that required her to stay overnight with her partner, _Kurosaki-kun_ for a lengthy number of days. So now fancy clips had to ask permission for his little sister to legally stay in his house. "Their parents" were "dead" and the older brother was "always away". How ridiculous. Just what kind of project spanned "a lengthy number of days" without any particular deadline? And since when did "exam reviews" require partners and not groups?

How could these Kuchiki siblings come up with a made-up story, walk up to his family and insert themselves in his life and home?

Well, it was because Ichigo's dad was Kurosaki Isshin. That was enough reason for these two Shinigami nobles to get away with _anything_.

Isshin was more than delighted to have Rukia at home. Ichigo could tell by that wide grin plastered across his bearded face. His father would most probably be _quite_ troubled if he brought home a _male_ friend to spend overnights in his room. But since he had a _girl_ coming over to _spend time with his son_, he most probably had all those unruly, indecent and horrendous thoughts in that perverted head of his. Other parents would've gasped skeptically at this proposal of having two "teenagers" of opposite genders sleep under one roof for the sake of a project and exam review.

But, no. This is Kurosaki Isshin they were talking to here. Leave it to him to accept anything abnormal you tell him and reject all other normal aspects of life (such as _not_ kicking your son in the morning to greet him and wake him up). If there was anyone who was plotting something unruly here, it would be _the father_. And if there was anyone who would be suffering most for this set up, it would be _the son_.

"_Rukia-chan will be staying in Ichigo's room!" came Isshin's announcement._

_This was followed by a consecutive of throws from father and son as well as curses, insults, reasons and excuses. Yuuzu's voice could barely be heard in the middle of the bickering. What did his father think he was doing deciding on something like that without asking him!_

_Isshin was grinning weirdly and he winked at Ichigo as if connoting something. Blood rushed up to Ichigo's cheeks. His overly creative father was up to no good again!_

"_Stupid old man!" the orange-haired son shifted so that Isshin was now in a headlock, "You can't decide who sleeps in my room and who doesn't!"_

"_You idiot! Blaaargh!" Isshin threw Ichigo off him and freed himself from the headlock, "I am the father and my decisions are ABSOLUTE!"_

_Absolute!_

"_Think!" the father pointed accusingly at the son, "Don't you think it would be so troublesome for Rukia-chan not to wake your sisters up in the wee hours of dawn when she has to retire in their room to sleep after you study! Or do you not care!" _

_The old man made it seem like he was utterly ONLY concerned and had no hidden agenda whatsoever. Ichigo was not sure if it helped that Rukia said she'd be fine wherever they'd want her to sleep. She just had to "do the project" with "Kurosaki-kun". It was when Isshin dragged Ichigo to the kitchen and muttered, "Are you sure? Or are you just gay?"_

"_What's that have t—YOU DIRTY OLD MAN!" Ichigo reddened even more, gritting his teeth, stepping forward and yelling, "That's IT! Rukia is sleeping in the girls' room!"_

"_No! She is sleeping in YOUR room!"_

"_Over! My! Dead! Body!"_

"_FINE!" _

_TSSSSS!_

"_HOOOOLY SHIIIIIIT, MY EEEEEYES!"_

Ichigo would've expected to be tossed, thrown, hit, punched, kicked or some other violent stuff but to be _sprayed with mace_ was just so... _out of it._ Leave it to Kurosaki Isshin to come up with stupid ideas just to win an argument. More like what was he doing with mace in his pocket anyway? So now after some treatment from their official medic ("What was her name again? Ma... Me... Gah, I'll ask Rukia next time."), Ichigo was lying on his bed with a wet towel on his closed eyes as he "helped" her write a draft for her report.

This was better than her first suggestion of reading him a book — a book on the Gotei 13. "To help you be informed!" was her reason. No. He was _skipping_ that.

"...For we, as Shinigami..." Rukia's voice made its way through Ichigo's thoughts, "...Esteem our rules and values..."

Ichigo lifted the towel from his eyes, squinting from the sudden light but managed to find Rukia's silhouette sitting on the floor and using the edge of his bed as a table. He wondered why she insisted on this instead of his study table, which was more comfortable. He was surprised she was using a ballpoint pen in writing and the bunny on top of it told him why. She was so immersed in her writing that she was pouting weirdly as she furrowed her eyebrows. Rukia stopped and stared at her paper as if in conflict with her own thoughts. She scratched her forehead with the bunny topper and bit her lip in contemplation.

Rukia lip-biting.

Sexy.

"Huh? What?" Ichigo was thinking out loudly, drawing Rukia's attention.

"I'm lost." She replied assuming he was wondering about her sudden pause, "How do I start a report about Enji?"  
"Eh?" Ichigo raised an eyebrow and went back to lying down and putting the towel over his eyes, "Tell them he's in over his head. That... _punk_."  
"Ichigo." Rukia said, "I'm _serious_."

"So am I." Ichigo said without moving, "Or what? Seated officers can just fricken walk up to the Captain and say you want to be Vice-Captain right in front of the current Vice-Captain? Seriously. What does he take _me_ for? He wanted a fight, well, I _gave_ him a fight. And if—"

"I knew it." Rukia interrupted, "You had some hidden motive in that test..."  
"It wasn't _hidden_, mind you." Ichigo said still without budging, "I wasn't meaning to hide it to begin with."  
"Mmm-hmm..." came Rukia's reply. It sounded like she was biting on something. Ichigo lifted the towel to look at her again only to find her lips around the ears of the bunny ballpen topper.

_Oh god..._

"I'm penning that in as a negative note from your observation, then?" Rukia asked him, not aware that Ichigo was convincing himself that he was not, in any way, feeling _weird_ about what he was seeing.

"Call it what you will."

There was a short pause.

"Say... Ichigo... Was he strong?"  
"I've fought stronger ones if you call that an answer." Was Ichigo's immediate reply.

Actually what he wanted to say was, "I don't care. I'm stronger than him. Don't ask stupid questions." He was prepared for that question though he thought it was pointless. Ichigo thought she didn't have to ask him that. Why did she have to ask him that? If she had been watching properly, she'd have gauged that without asking him.

"I have this weird feeling to be careful..." Rukia was saying now amidst the sound of pen on paper, "...He _is_ from the First Squad and, you know, I'm quite pensive about how they'll compare me to their ... uh... _other_... Captains."

Rukia admitting to him about being _pensive_ about something? That was new.

"Ah, never mind..." Rukia seemed to be thinking audibly. Very unlikely of her. Was she under pressure from something?

"If it helps..." Ichigo said with a slight shrug, "I've had no other Captain but you."

Another second of silence.

And then there was a sound of a dropping pen and then a gasp and then some movement. Ichigo immediately lifted the towel to look at her again to see what happened. It seemed Rukia had clumsily dropped the pen and was searching for it under his bed. She was muttering something — a bit flustered for some reason — as she tilted her head to look for what she had dropped.

"You clumsy little..." Ichigo set the towel away and stood up. With a grunt, he lifted his bed on one end. Rukia immediately spotted her pen and grabbed it. As soon as she was out from under the bed, Ichigo put it down with another grunt.

"So what do we have so far?" Ichigo sat on the edge of the bed and picked up the paper on which Rukia had written her report. He was actually surprised it was formal and clean... meaning it did not have any drawings on it.

And that it was not in some sort of code, too.

That being said, Ichigo proceeded to read the report on Kawamura Enji. And in Sereitei, the same Kawamura Enji was currently in Sereitei was sitting on the thick branch of a random tree.

His doll was still in his hand and from where he was sitting, Enji glanced at the walls of an all-too popular mansion.

"Hisana..."

The Kuchiki manor.

"I'll finally be retrieving you."

- End of Seat 9 -

* * *

AN: Long chapter! Won't ask how many years delayed. I'm sorry! Anyway, hoping for a review. Thanks!

Cheerios, cookies and a whole lot of Bankai love.


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